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ifi nii N iiii / i iii i lii 1 1 1 j i iM?,,, E y, B L ' G L
WORKS OF MARTIN LUTHER
WORKS OF
MARTIN LOTHER
TRANSLATED
WITH
INTRODUCTIONS AND NOTES
VOLUME V
A. J. HOLMAN COMPANY
AND.
THE CASTLE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA: PENNSYLVANIA
COPYRIGHT, 1931, BY
A. J. HOLMAN COMPANY
CONTENTS
PAGE
ON TRANSLATING: AN OPEN LETTER (1530) 7
INTRODUCTION (C. M, JACOBS) . , 9
TRANSLATION (C M. JACOBS) 10
WHETHER SOLDIERS, TOO, CAN BE SAVED (1526) . . 29
INTRODUCTION (C. M. JACOBS) 31
TRANSLATION (C M, JACOBS) 32
ON WAR AGAINST THE TURK (1529) 75
INTRODUCTION (C. M. JACOBS) 77
TRANSLATION (C. M. JACOBS) 79
ON THE COUNCILS AND THE CHURCHES (1539) . .*. . 125
INTRODUCTION (C. M, JACOBS) 127
TRANSLATION (C M. JACOBS) ., 131
INDEX 303
SCRIFTURE REFERENCES 323
ON
TRANSLATING:
AN OPEN LETTER
1530
INTRODUCTION
The letter On Translating was one of the works composed
during Luther's residence at Feste Cotorg. 1 It was sent to Luther's
friend, Wenzel Link, at Nuremberg, September 12, 1530, with the
request that he give it to a publisher. 11 Link promptly furnished it with
a brief foreword, dated September 15, in which he says that it has
come into his hands " through a good friend. "*
It is ostensibly an answer to two questions put to Luther by another
" good friend. " Who this friend is, is not known. He was probably
invented by Luther himself to furnish an excuse for discussing, in the
form of a letter, subjects that were then on his mind. Under the guise
of a defense of his translation of Romans iii, 28, he writes on justifi-
cation by faith and on the true meaning of good works, concluding
the work with a brief treatment of the intercession of saints. In the
course of the discussion he states and defends the methods that he had
used in translating the Scriptures,
No other man in history has had a better right to speak on the
subject of translating than Luther had. His German Bible is the
greatest piece of translating that modern times have known. It has
required more than a little courage to attempt to translate the present
work into another language, out of Luther's German. The translator
can only ask that critics of his translation will credit him with an
effort to apply to Luther's writing the principles of translation that
Luther here states and defends.
The text of the letter is found in Weimar Ed., XXX*, 632 iE
Erlangen Ed. LXV, 104 ff., St. Louis Ed., XIX, 968 tf.
CLEMEN IV, 180 ff. t Berlin Ed,, VII, 26 ff. (With latter part
omitted). The translation is from the text of Clemen,
CHARLES M. JACOBS
MOUNT AIRY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
* See Introduction to the Exhortation to the Clergy* Vol. IV,
p. 327 f. this edition.
8 ENDBUS* viii, 257.
Weimar Ed XXX s , 633*
(9)
ON TRANSLATING: AN OPEN LETTER
1530
To the honorable N., my esteemed Lord and friend.
Grace and peace in Christ, honorable dear sir and friend.
' TV I have received your letter with the two questions, or in-
Quwtiwis quirje^ to w hich you ask my reply. First, Why in trans-
R lating the words of Paul; in the third chapter of Romans,
3:28 Arbitramur, hominem justificari ex fide
absque operibus, I rendered them thus: "We hold
that man is justified without the works of the law, only by
faith" P 1 You tell me, besides, that the papists are making a
tremendous f uss, because the word sola, "only/' is not in
Paul's text, and this addition of my own to God's Word is
not to be tolerated. Second, Whether the departed saints
pray for us, since we read that the angels do pray for us ?
With reference to the first question, you may give the
papists the following answer, if you like.
First, If I, Dr. Luther, could have expected that all the
4116 papists together would be able to translate a single chapter
of the Scriptures correctly and well, I should certainly have
mustered up enough humility to invite their aid and assis-
tance in putting the New Testament into German. But be-
cause I knew, and still see with my own eyes, that none of
them knows how to translate or to speak German, I spared
them and myself that trouble. It is evident, indeed, that
from my translating and my German they are learning to
speak and write German, and so are stealing my language, of
which they had little knowledge before. They do not thank
me for this, however, and prefer to use it against me. But
I readily grant them this, for it is a feather in my cap* that
I have taught my ungrateful pupils, even my enemies, how
to speak.
* The point of the criticism is that Luther has inserted the word "only " which
does not appear in. the original text
9 E thut mix doch sanfft.
(10)
On Translating: An Open Letter 11
Second, You may say that I translated the New Testament
to the best of my ability and according to my conscience. I
have compelled no one to read it, but have left that free, and
did the work only as a service to those who could not do it
better. No one is forbidden to do a better piece of work. If
anyone does not want to read it, he can let it alone. I
neither ask anybody to read it nor praise anyone who does
so. It is my Testament and my translation, and it shall con-
tinue to be mine. If I have made some mistakes in it,
though I am not conscious of any and would be most unwill-
ing to- give a single letter a wrong translation intentionally,
I will not suffer the papists to be the judges. Their ears are
still too long and their hee-haws too weak, for them to criti-
cize my translating. I know very well, and they know even
less than the miller's beast, 1 how much knowledge, work,
reason and understanding is required in a good translator;
they have never tried it.
There is a saying, "He who builds along the road has many
masters/* That is the way with me. Those who have never
been able to speak rightly, to say nothing of translating, have
all at once become my masters and I must be the pupil of
them all. If I were to have asked them how to put into
German the first two words of Matthew's Gospel, Liber Matt.
generationis/ none of them would have known how to 1:1
say Quack! And now they sit in judgment on the whole
work ! Fine fellows ! That is the way it was with St. Jerome
when he translated the Bible. The whole world was his
master. He was the only one who could do nothing at all,
and people who were not equal to cleaning his shoes con-
demned the good man's work. It takes patience to do a good
deed for the world at large, for the world always wants to be
Master Wise-man and must always be putting the bit under
the horse's tail, directing everything, able to do nothing,
I should like to see a papist who would come forward and
translate an epistle of St. Paul or one of the prophets without
making use of Luther's German translation. Then we should
see a fine, beautiful German translation that we could praise !
* ''The book of the generations,"
12 On Translating: An Open Letter
We have seen the Dresden dirt-scrawler 1 who played the
master to my New Testament. I shall not mention his
name again in my books ; he has his Judge, and besides he is
well known. He admits that my German is sweet and good
and saw that he could not improve on it ; but, wanting to dis-
credit it, he went to work and took my New Testament,
almost word for word as I had written it, removed my intro-
ductions and explanations, and sold my New Testament tinder
his own name. There ! dear children, how it hurt me when
his prince, 2 in a horrible preface, condemned Luther's New
Testament and forbade the reading of it, but commanded
that the scrawler's New Testament be read, though it was
the same that Luther had made!
That no one may think I am lying, let him take the two
Testaments, Luther's and the scrawler's, and compare them,
and he will see who is the translator of both. He has patched
and altered it in a few places, and though this does not please
me, I can endure it. It does no special harm, so far as the
text is concerned. For that reason, I have never wanted to
write against it, but have had to laugh at the great wisdom
that so terribly slandered and condemned and forbade my
New Testament, because it was published under my name,
but said that it must be read when it was published under
another's name. What kind of virtue is it to heap slander
and shame on another's book, and then steal it and publish it
tinder one's own name, thus seeking praise and reputation by
the slandered work of someone else? this I leave to his
Judge to discover. Meanwhile, I am satisfied and glad that
my work, as St. Paul also claims, is furthered even by ene-
mies, and Luther's book, without Luther's name and under
his enemies' name, must be read. How could I avenge my-
self better?
But to return to the matter in hand ! If your papist wants
to make so much fuss about the word sola, "alone/' tell
him this : "Dr. Martin Luther will have it so, and says that
* Jerome : Emser. He died in 1527. In criticizing Luther's New Testament
foe pointed out 1,400 errors In the year of his death he published hia owa
German New Testament in which he had closely followed Luther's version Cf.
U, Hieroa. Emser (1898), and Vol. Ill, pp. 277 ff . ^
JACOBS ' Luther ' a
On Translating: An Open Letter 13
a papist and an ass are the same thing." Sic v o 1 o , sic
jubeo ; sit pro ratione voluntas. 1 We are not
going to be the pupils and disciples of the papists, but their
* masters and judges. For once, also, we are going to be proud
? and brag with these ass-heads, and as St. Paul glories against i COT.
^his mad saints, so I shall glory against these asses of mine. iitf
& Are they doctors? So am I. Are they learned? So am I.
J*- Are they preachers ? So am I. Are they theologians ? So am I.
P Are they disputants ? So am I. Are they philosophers ? So
am I. Are they dialecticians ? So am I. Are they lecturers ?
So am I. Do they write books ? So do I.
I will go further with my glorying. I can expound Psalms
and Prophets ; they cannot. I can translate; they cannot. I
can rea,d the Holy Scriptures ; they cannot. I can pray; they
^ cannot. To come to lower things ! I can use their own dia-
lectics 3 and philosophy better than all of them together ; and
besides, I know for sure that none of them understands their
Aristotle. If there is a single one among them all who
rightly understands one Proemium or chapter in Aris-
totle, I will let myself be tossed in a blanket.* I am not say-
j ing too much, for I was trained and practiced from my youth
Jup in all their science and am well aware how deep and
broad it is. They know very well, too, that I know all and
can do all that they can. And yet these incurable fellows
act toward me as though I were a visitor to the home of their
/^science, who have only just arrived this morning and have
never either seen or heard what they teach or what they can
^do. So gloriously do they boast of their science! They are
^teaching me what I knew by heart twenty years ago, so that
"\o all their blatting and shouting I have to sing, with the
Chariot, "I've known for seven years that horseshoe-nails are
y4
iron."*
Let this be the answer to your first question. Please give
these asses no other and no further answer to their blatting
about the word sola than simply this : "Luther will have it
* "I will it; I command it; my will is reason enough."
a The art of debate, which was so highly developed in the later Middle Ages.
Ct Luther's statement in the Open Letter to the Nobility,
in this edition, Vol. II, p. 146.
* Apparently a proverbial expression, the source of which is unknown.
14 On Translating: An Open Letter
so, and he is a doctor above all the doctors of the whole
papacy." It shall stay at that! Henceforth I shall simply
hold them in contempt and have them held in contempt, so
long as they are the kind of people, I should say, of asses,
that they are. There are shameless nincompoops among them
who have never learned their own science of sophistry, Doc-
tor Schmidt 1 and Doctor Dirty-nose, 3 and their likes. And
yet they match themselves against me in this matter, which
is not only far beyond the reach of sophistry, but as St. fcaul
says, above the whole world's wisdom and reason. Of
course, an ass need not sing much ; he is well enough known
by his ears.
Answering To you and to our people, however, I shall show why I
chose to use the word sola, though in Romans iii, it was
not sola, but solumortantum that I used. So closely
do the asses look ,at my text ! However, I have used sola
-fide elsewhere, and I want both, both s o 1 u m and sola.
I have constantly tried, in translating to produce a pure and
clear German, and it has often happened that for two or
three or four weeks we have sought and asked for a single
word, and sometimes have not found it even then. In work-
ing at the book of Job, 8 Master Philip/ Aurogallus,' and I
could sometimes scarcely finish three lines in four days. Now
that it is translated and complete, anyone can read and criti-
cize it, and one now runs his eyes over three or four pages
and does not stumble once. But he is not aware of the humps
and lumps that were there, where now he slips along as over a
planed board, while we had to sweat and toil to get the humps
and lumps out of the way so that one could slide over it so
finely. It is good plowing when the field is cleaned up ; but
rooting out the woods and the stumps and getting the field
ready, that is work that nobody wants. There is no such
thing as earning the world's thanks ; God Himself can earn
* Johannes Faber of Leutkirch (1478-1541). Sec PRE* and Cath. Enc.
a Luther's name for Johannes Cochlaeus (1479-1552). See PRE 8 & Cath.
Enc.
* On Luther's difficulties with Job, see his letter to Spalatin, February 23,
1524, E n d e r s iv, 299; SMITH & JACOBS, Luther's Correspon-
dence I!, 221f.; also his Preface to the Book of Job, Vol. VI of this edition.
* Melanchthon. s
Matthew Aurogallus (1490-1543) was teaching Hebrew at Wittenberg after
1521. He was cme of Luther's chief assistants in translating the Old Testament*
On Translating: An Open Letter 15
no thanks from it with the sun, with heaven and earth, or
even with His own Son's death. It is just the world, and
stays the world, in the devil's name, because it does not will
to be anything else.
Here, in Romans in, I know right well that the word
s o 1 u m was not in the Greek or Latin text and had no need
of the papists to teach me that. It is a fact that these four
letters s-o-l-a are not there, and at these letters the asses-
heads stare, like a cow at a new door. At the same time they
do not see that the sense of them is there and that the word
belongs there if the translation is to be clear and strong. I
wanted to speak German, not Latin or Greek, since I had
undertaken to speak German, in the translation. But it is
the nature of our German language that in speaking of two
things, one of which is admitted and the other denied, we
use the word "only" along with the word "not" or "no." So
we say, "The farmer brings only grain and no money" ;
"No, I have no money now, but only grain"; "I have
only eaten and not drunk" ; "Did you only write it, and
not read it over?" There are innumerable cases of this kind
in daily use.
In all these phrases it is the German usage, even though it
is not the Latin or Greek usage, and it is the way of the
German language to add the word "only," in order that the
word "not" or "no" may be more complete and clearer. To
be sure, I can also say, "The farmer brings grain and no
money," but the words "no money" do not sound as full and
clear as if I were to say, "The fanner brings only grain
and no money." Here the word "only" helps the word "no"
so much that it becomes a complete, clear, German phrase.
We must not, like these asses, ask the Latin letters how we
are to speak German; but we must ask the mother in the
home, the children on the street, the common man in the
marketplace about this, and look them in the mouth to see
how they speak, and afterwards do our translating. That
way they understand it and mark that one is speaking Ger-
man to them.
For example, Christ says, Ex abundantia cordis 12-34
Vol. V 2.
16 On Translating: An Open Letter
os loquitur. If I am to follow the asses, they will lay the
letters before me and translate thus : "Out of the surplus of
the heart, the mouth speaketh." Tell me, is that German?
What German understands that? What kind of thing is
"surplus of the heart?" No German can say that, unless, per-
haps, he wanted to say that someone had too large a heart or
too much heart, though even that is not right. "Surplus of
the heart" is not German, any more than is "surplus of the
house/' "surplus of the stove," "surplus of the bank." But
the mother in the home and the common man say, "What fills
the heart overflows the mouth." 1 That is speaking, good Ger-
man, the kind that I have tried for and, unfortunately, have
not always reached or hit upon; for the Latin letters are a
great hindrance to good German speech.
Matt. Thus, for example, Judas the traitor says, in Matthew
26:8 xxvi, Ut quid perditio haec? and in Mark xiv, U t
quid perditio ista unguenti facta est? If I
^ :4 am to follow these asses of literalists, I must translate that :
"Why has this loss of the ointment happened ?" But what
kind of German is that? What German says, "Loss of the
ointment has happened" ? If he understands that at all, he
thinks that the ointment is lost, and must be looked for and
found again, though even that is obscure and uncertain. Now
if that is good German, why do they not come out and make
us a fine, pretty, new German Testament like that, and let
Luther's Testament lie? I believe they would then reveal
fcheir knowledge! But a German man says, "Why this
waste?" or "Why this loss? The ointment is ruined." 3 That
is good German, from which it is understood that Magdalen
wasted the ointment that she poured out, and did damage.
That was what Judas meant; he thought he knew a better
way to dispose of it.
Luke Again, when the angel greets Mary, he says, "Hail Mary,
1:28 full of grace, the Lord be with thee!" Up to now that has
been put into bad German, because the translation has fol-
lowed the Latin literally. Tell me whether that is good
*Wes das hertz vol ist, des gehet der mund tiber.
a W a s soil doch solcher unrat? or W a, s soil doch sol-
cher schade. Neia, est ist schade umb der salbe.
On Translating: An Open Letter 17
German ! When does a German say, "You are full of grace" ?
What German understands what it is to be "full of grace"?
He must think of a keg full of beer or a purse full of money.
Therefore, I have translated it "Thou gracious one/' 1 so that
a German can think his way to what the angel meant by his
greeting. Here, however, the papists will go crazy about me,
because I have corrupted the Angelic Salutation, 2
though I have not yet hit upon the best German rendering
for it. Suppose I were to take the best German, and trans-
late the salutation thus : "Hail, dear Mary/ 13 for that is what
the angel wanted to say, and what he would have said, if he
had wanted to salute her in German. Suppose I had done
that ! I believe that they would have hanged themselves out
of great devotion to the dear Virgin Mary, because I had thus
destroyed the salutation.
But what do I care if they rage or rave? I shall not pre-
vent them from translating as they please; but I also shall
translate, not as they please, but as I please. If there is any-
one who will not have it, let him let it alone and keep his
criticism to himself, for I shall neither see nor hear it. They
need bear no responsibility and give no account for my trans-
lating. Listen, well, to this ! I shall say, "gracious Mary" and
"dear Mary," and let them say "Mary full of grace." One
who knows German knows very well what a tender, fine word
that is : the dear Mary, the dear God, the dear emperor, the
dear prince, the dear man, the dear child. I do not know
whether this word "dear" can be said in Latin or other lan-
guages so tenderly that it rings through the heart/ by all the
senses, as it does in our language.
I believe that St. Luke, a master of the Greek and Hebrew
tongues, wanted to render the Hebrew word that the angel
used and make its meaning clear by the Greek k e c h a r i -
tomene ; and I think that the angel Gabriel spoke with Dan -
Mary as he spoke with Daniel, when he called him H a m u - 9:23
rfJ!?^ HoldseHge, cf. Weksacker's Begnadigte and Moffett'a
"God favored one 1 *!
3 The Ave Maria.
* There is no English equivalent for Luther's Gott griisse dich,
dta Hebe M<a r i a , which is altogether informal.
* D a a also dringe u a d klinge y n n s hertz.
18 On Translating: An Open Letter
doth and Ish hamudoth, vir desidiorum, 1 that
"Dear Daniel" ; for that is Gabriel's way of speaking as we
see in Daniel Now if I were to translate the angel's words
literally by the asses' science, I should have to say, "Daniel,
thou man of desires." 2 That would be pretty German ! A
German hears, indeed, that L ii s t e and Begierung are
German words, though not pure German words, for Lust
and B e g i e r would be better. But when the words are
thus put together in the phrase "man of desires/' no German
knows what is said. He thinks, perhaps, that Daniel was full
of evil desires. That is fine translating ! Therefore, I must
let the literal words go and seek to learn how the German
says what the Hebrew means by IshHamudoth. Then
I find that the German says, "Dear Daniel," "Dear Mary," or
"gracious maid," "pretty maiden," "gentle girl." A trans-
lator must have a great store of words, so that they ma) 7 " be
on hand when one word does not fit in every place.
And why shall I speak much or long about translating?
If I were to tell the reasons for all my words and the ideas
that were back of their use, I should need a year to write it.
I have learned by experience what an art and what labor
translating is; therefore I will suffer no papal ass or mule
to be my judge or critic, for they have never tried it. He who
will none of my translating, may let it alone ; if anyone dis-
likes it or criticizes it without my knowledge and consent, the
devil repay him ! If it is to be criticized, I shall do it myself ;
if I do not do it, then let them leave my translation in peace,
and let each of them make for himself one that suits him ;
I bid him good-bye.
Luther's This I can testify with a good conscience, I have been
faithful and diligent to the utmost in this work and have
never had a false thought.* I have not taken a single h e 1 -
I e r f or it, or sought one, or made one by it. Nor have I had
any intention to win honor by it, that God, my Lord, knows,
but I have done it as a service to the dear Christians and
1 English A. V. & R. V., "Greatly beloved."
"Daniel, du man der begierungen, oder, Daniel, du
man der luste.
* i.e. Never any purpose to falsify.
On Translating: An Open Letter 19
to the honor of One who sitteth above, who blesses me so
much every hour of my life that, if I had translated a thou-
sand times as much or as diligently, I still should not deserve
to live a single hour or have a sound eye. All that I am and
have is of His grace and mercy, nay, of His dear blood and
His bitter sweat. Therefore, God willing, all of it shall
serve to His honor, joyfully and sincerely. Scrawlers and
papal asses may abuse me, but pious Christians and Christ,
their Lord, praise me ! and I am repaid all too richly, if only
one single Christian recognizes me as a faithful workman.
I care nothing for the papal asses ; they are not worthy to
recognize my work, and it would grieve me to the bottom of
my heart, if they praised me. Their abuse is my highest
glory and honor. Still, I would be a doctor, nay, a wonderful
doctor ; and that name they shall not take from me till the
Last Day, that I know for sure.
On the other hand, I have not disregarded literal meanings
too freely, but with my helpers, I have been very careful to
see that when a passage is important, I have kept the literal
meaning, and not departed freely from it. For example, in
John vi, Christ says, "Him hath God the Father sealed." It 6:2J
would have been better German to say, "On him hath God
the Father put His mark/' or "It is he whom God the Father
means." But I preferred to do violence to the German lan-
guage, rather than depart from the words. Translating is
not an art that everyone can practice, as the mad saints
think; it requires a right pious, faithful, diligent, God-
fearing, experienced, practiced heart. Therefore I hold
that no false Christian, or sectarian, 1 can be a faithful trans-
lator. That is shown in the translation of the Prophets made
at Worms.* It has been carefully done and approaches my
German very closely; but Jews had a hand in it, and they do
not show sufficient reverence for Christ; otherwise there is
knowledge and care enough in it So much for translating
and the nature of the languages !
*Rottengeit. "a radical."
!& translation of the prophets made by Ludwi H*tzer and Hans Denck and
published at Worms, in 1527. The translators were antitriiutarians, which may
account for Luther's belief that "Jews had a hand in it." On Hattzer and
Denck see articlet in Ralencyk.
20 On Translating: An Open Letter
Rom. Now, however, I was not only relying on the nature of the
languages and following that when, in Romans iii, I inserted
Th* the word s o 1 u m, "only," but the text itself and the sense of
^" "^ au ^ demanded it and forced it upon me. He is dealing,
in that passage, with the main point of Christian doctrine,
viz., that we are justified by faith in Christ, without any
works of the law, and he cuts away all works so completely,
as even to say that the works of the law, though it is God's
law and His Word, do not help us to righteousness. He
cites Abraham as an example and says that he was justified
so entirely without works, that even the highest work, which
had then been newly commanded by God, before and above
all other works, namely circumcision, did not help him to
righteousness, but he was justified by faith, without circum-
Rom. 4:2cision and without any works at all. So he says, in Chapter
iv, "If Abraham was justified by works, he may glory, but
not before God." But when works are so completely cut
away, the meaning of it must be that faith alone justifies,
and one who would speak plainly and clearly about this cut-
ting away of all works, must say, "Faith alone justifies us,
and hot works." The matter itself, and not the nature of the
language only, compels this translation.
"Nay," say they, "it has an offensive sound, and the com-
mon P^pl 6 understand it to mean that they need do no good
Works works." Dear sir, what are we to say? Is it not much more
offensive that St. Paul himself does not say "faith alone,"
but makes it even plainer and goes to the very limit, 1 and says
"Without the works of, the law" ? In Galatians i, also, and
GaL 2:16 in many other places, he says "Not by the works of the law."
A gloss 3 might be found for the words "faith alone," but the
words "without the works of the law" are so plain and offen-
sive and scandalous that they cannot be helped out by any
gloss. How much rather might people learn not to do any
good works, when they hear this preaching about works put
in such plain, strong words : "No works," "without works,"
"not by works" ! If it is not offensive when one preaches
1 Schuttet wol grober era,us u n d stosset dcm f a s s den
boden a u s .
a i.e. An interpretation distorting the real meaning.
On Translating: An Open Letter 21
"without works/' "no works," "not by works," why should it
be offensive when one preaches, "by faith alone" ?
And what is still more of an offense, St. Paul does not
reject simple, common works, but "the works of the law."
From that it would be quite possible for someone to take
offense and say that the law is condemned and accursed
before God, and we ought to do nothing but evil, as the peo-
ple said, in Romans iii, "Let us do evil that good may come."
This is the very thing that a spirit of discord 1 began to do
in our time. Dear fellow, St. Paul and we wanted to give
this offense, and we preach so strongly against works and in-
sist on faith alone, for no other reason than that people may
be offended and stumble and fall, in order that they may
learn to know that they do not become righteous by good
works, ^but only by Christ's death and resurrection. Now if
they cannot become righteous by the good works of the law,
how much less shall they become righteous by bad works,
and without the law! It does not follow, therefore, that be-
cause good works do not help, bad works do help; any more
than it follows that because the sun cannot help a blind man
to .see, night and darkness must, therefore, help him to see.
I am surprised that anyone can make such a fuss over a
matter as evident as this. Tell me whether Christ's death
and resurrection are works of ours that we are to do, or not.
They are not our works or the works of any law. Now it is
only Christ's death and resurrection that make us free from
sin, and righteous, as Paul says in Romans iv, "He died for
our sins and rose for our justification." Tell me, further,
what is the work by which we seize and hold Christ's death
and resurrection ? It cannot be any external work, but only
the eternal faith that is in the heart. Faith alone, nay, all
alone, without any works, seizes this death and resurrection
when it is preached by the Gospel. Why then, this raging
and raving, this heretic making and burning at the stake,
when the case is so plain and well founded, and it is proved
that faith alone seizes Christ's death and resurrection, with-
out any works, and that His death and resurrection are our
*Ein rotten geyst.
22 On Translating: An Open Letter
life and our righteousness? Since, then, it is so clear that
only faith brings us, grasps for us, and gives us this life and
righteousness, why should we not say so? It is no heresy
that faith alone lays hold on Christ and gives life; and yet
it must be heresy, if anyone says it. Are they not mad,
foolish, and quite beside themselves? They admit that the
thing is right, but brand the saying of the thing as wrong,
though nothing can be both right and wrong at the same
time.
I am not the only one or the first to say that faith alone
justifies. Ambrose said it before me, and Augustine and
many others; and if a man is going to read St. Paul and
understand him, he will have to say the same thing and can
say nothing else. Paul's words are too strong ; they endure
no works, none at all; and if it is not a work, it must be
faith alone. How could it be such a fine, improving inoffen-
sive doctrine, if people were taught that they might become
righteous by works, beside faith? That would be as much
as to say that it was not Christ's death alone that takes away
our sins, but that our works, too, did something toward it ;
and it would be a fine honoring of Christ's death to say that
our works helped it and could do that which He does, and
that we were good and strong like Him. This is of the devil,
who cannot leave the blood of Christ without abuse !
The matter itself demands, then, that it be said, "Faith
alone justifies/* and the nature of our German language
teaches us to express it that way. I have the precedent of
the holy Fathers also, and the peril of the people compels
me to it, so that they may not continue to hang upon works
and be without faith, and lose Christ, especially in these days,
when they have been so long accustomed to works and have
to be torn away from them by force, Therefore, it is not
only right but highly necessary to speak out as plainly and
fully as possible, and say, "Faith alone, without works, justi-
fies." I am only sorry that I did not also add the words
alle and aller, and say, "without any works of any
laws," so that it would have been said fully and roundly.
Therefore it shall stay in my New Testament and, though all
Bion
On Translating: An Open Letter 23
the papal asses become mad and foolish, they shall not get
it out.
Let this be enough for the present. If God gives me grace,
I shall have more to say about it in the tract Onjustifi-
cation, 1
Coming to the second question, 3 whether the departed saints
pray for us, I shall give you only a brief answer, for I have
it in mind to publish a sermon on the angels, 8 in which, God g. t
willing ! I shall treat this point further. * m *
In the first place, you know that under the papacy it is
taught that the saints in heaven do pray for us, though we
cannot know this, since the Scriptures tell us no such thing.
Not only so, but the saints have been made gods, so that they
have to be our patrons, on whom we call, even though some
of them have never existed. To each of these saints some
special power and might have been ascribed. One has power
over fire, another over water, another over pestilence, fever
and all kinds of disease. Indeed it seems that God has to be
idle and let the saints work and act in His stead. This
abomination the papists themselves now feel, and they are
quietly pulling in their pipes, and adorning themselves now
with this teaching about the intercession of the saints. I
shall defer this subject for the present; but that will not
matter; I shall not forget it and allow their self -adornment
to go unpunished.
In the second place, you know that there is not a single
word of God commanding us to call on either angels or saints
to intercede for us, and we have no example of it in the
Scriptures, There we find that the angels spoke with the fa-
thers and the prophets but none of these angels was asked to
intercede for them. So Jacob, the father of them all, did not Gen< 32:
ask the angel, with whom he fought, for any intercession, but 24ff.
tract was never completed. There are scxme notes for it extant. Cf.
Weimar Ed., XXX a , 652 ff.
a Cf. above, p. 10.
* Luther preached such a sermon at Coburg on the day of St. Michael and
All Angels (September 29), 1530. It was published the next year, but has
nothing to say about the intercession of saints. The sermon in in Weimar
Ed.XXXII, 111 ff.
24 On Translating: An Open Letter
only took a blessing from him. On the contrary, we find, in
Kev. the Apocalypse, that the angel would not allow himself to be
22:9 worshiped by John, Thus the worship of saints shows it-
self to be a mere trumpery of men and an invention of their
own, outside the Word of God and the Scriptures.
It is not proper, however, for us to undertake anything in
the way of worship without God's Word, and one who does
so is tempting God. Therefore it is not to be advised or
endured that one should call upon the departed saints to
intercede for him or should teach others to' do it ; but it is
rather to be condemned and others are to be taught to avoid
it. For this reason I, too, shall not advise it and so burden
my conscience with other peoples' iniquities. It was exceed-
ingly bitter for me to tear myself away from the worship of
the saints, for I was steeped and fairly drowned in it. But
the light of the Gospel is now so clear that henceforth no one
has any excuse to remain in darkness. We all know very
well what we ought to do.
Moreover, this is, in itself, a dangerous and offense-giving
service, because people are easily accustomed to turning from
Christ and quickly learn to put more confidence in the saints
than in Christ Himself. Our nature is, in any case, all too
prone to flee from God and Christ, and to trust in men ; nay,
it is exceedingly hard for one to learn to trust in God and
Christ, though we have vowed 1 and are in duty bound to do
so. Therefore this offense is not to be endured, so that weak
and fleshly people may not begin an idolatry, against the First
Commandment and against our baptism. Be satisfied to turn
confidence and trust away from the saints, to Christ, both by
teaching and practice- Even then there are difficulties and
hindrances enough. There is no need to paint the devil on
the door; he will be on hand.
Finally, we are certain that God is not angry with us, and
that we are secure, even if we do not call upon the saints to
intercede for us. He has never commanded it. He says
20:5 that He is a jealous God, Who visits their iniquities 6n
those who da not keep His commandments ; but here there
1 ie. in baptism. See below and Vol. I, pp. fiSff,
On Translating: An Open Letter 25
is^ no commandment and therefore no wrath to be feared.
Since, then, there is on this side security and on that side
great danger and offense against God's Word, why should we
betake ourselves from security into danger, since we have
no word of God to hold us, strengthen us, and rescue us in
that need? For it is written, "He who gladly runs into dan-
ger shall perish therein," 1 and God's command says, "Thou Deut
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God/' 6 :ie
"Nay/' say they, "that way you condemn the whole
Church, 3 which has hitherto observed this practice every-
where." I reply : I know full well that the priests and monks
seek this cloak for their abominations and want to put off on
the Church the damage that they have done by their own
neglect, so that if we say, "The Church does not err," we
will be saying at the same time that they do not err, and thus
they may not be accused of any lies or errors, since that is
what the Church holds. Thus no pilgrimage can be wrong,
however plainly the devil is along; no- indulgence, however
gross the lies that are told about it. In a word, there is
nothing there but holiness. Therefore in answering them,
you should say that this is not a question of who is and who
is not condemned. They inject this foreign question in order
to lead us away from our case. We are now discussing God's
Word; what the Church is or does belongs elsewhere; the
question here is, what is or is not God's Word; what is not
God's Word does not make a Church.
We read that in the days of Elijah the prophet there was
no public proclamation of God's Word and no worship of j Kin
God in the whole people of Israel, as he says, "Lord, they 9:10*
have slain Thy prophets and overthrown Thine altars, and
I am left all alone." Here King Ahab and others might have
said, "Elijah, with such language you condemn the whole
people of God." But at the same time God had preserved
seven thousand. How, then? Do you not think that God
can now preserve His own under the papacy, even though
the priests and monks have been the devils' teachers in the
1 Ecdemaaticus 3 : 26.
3 Here and throughout this passage, die Christenheit.
26 On Translating: An Open Letter
Church and have gone to hell? Many children and young
people have died in Christ ; for even under Antichrist, Christ
has with might preserved baptism, the bare text 1 of the Gos-
pel in the pulpit, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, so as to
preserve many of His Christians and thus preserve His
Church; and He has said nothing about this to the devil's
teachers.
And even though the Christians have done some bits of
papal abomination, the papal asses have not proved by this
that the Christians did it gladly ; still less does it prove that
the Christians did right. All Christiansen err and sin, but
God has taught them all to pray in the Lord's Prayer for
forgiveness of sins, and has known well how to forgive the
sins that they have had to commit unwillingly, unknowingly,
and under compulsion of Antichrist, saying nothing about it
to the priests and monks. But it can easily be proved that
in all the world there has always been a great, secret murmur-
ing and complaining against the clergy, as men who were
not treating the Church aright, and the papal asses have val-
iantly withstood such murmuring with fire and sword, down
to the present day. This murmuring proves how gladly the
Christians have seen these abominations and how right they
have been.
Nay, dear asses, come along and say that this is the teach-
ing of the Church, these stinking lies which you villains
and traitors have imposed by force upon the Church and
over which you archmurderers have slain many Christians*
Every letter of every papal law shows that nothing is ever
taught with the counsel or by the will of the Church. There
is nothing there but district e precipiendo man-
damus. 3 That has been their Holy Ghost. This tyranny
the Church has had to endure; it has been robbed of the Sac-
rament and, by no fault of its own, it has been held in cap-
tivity. 8 And the asses would palm off this intolerable tyranny
iL,t tlie text ^tout corrupting glosses, or explanations.
* JWe teach and strictly command." The phrase i common in papal I
?^ lf *&* thcm * of Thc Babylonian Captivity, Vol.
pp. 170 fl.
On Translating: An Open Letter 27
of theirs on us as a willing act of the Church and an example,
and so adorn themselves.
But this is getting too long. Let this be answer enough to
your questions this time; more another time. Pardon this
long letter. Christ our Lord be with us all. Amen.
MARTIN LUTHER,
Your good friend.
The Wilderness, 1 October 8, 1530.
1 This manner of dating is common in Luther's Wartburg letters; it recurs
in those written from Feste Cofcurg.
WHETHER SOLDIERS, TOO, CAN BE SAVED
(Ob Kriegsleute auch in seligem
Stande sein konnen)
1526
INTRODUCTION
The tract on the question Whether Soldiers, Too, Can
Be Saved was suggested to Luther by Asa von Kram, 1 a counsellor
of Duke Ernst of Brunswick-Liineberg. The suggestion was made
when they met in Wittenberg immediately after the Peasants 7 War.
It was renewed in January, 1526, when the two met again in Torgau. 3
In October, 1526, the work was finished. 8 It was published before
January 1, 1527.
This tract is closely related to Luther's writings on the Peasants'
War* and to those on government.* This whole group of writings
should be read together, if Luther's views on the subjects here dis-
cussed are to be thoroughly understood.
Luther's view of war was that it is a necessary evil. It has a right-
ful place in the world, but only as a means for the repression of
wrong; when used for that purpose, it is justified. He attempts to
guard this doctrine against abuse by distinguishing between three
kinds of war, that of inferiors against superiors, which is never jus-
tified ; that of equals against equals, which may be justified, but must
never be war of aggression; and that of superiors against inferiors,
which is simply an application of the police-power that belongs to the
State. The classification of superiors, equals and inferiors is feudal
and is based upon the distinctions which the feudal system made be-
tween overlords and vassals. It was on the basis of these views that
Luther resisted the attempt to create a league of Protestant princes to
defend the Reformation. Prior to the '.Diet of Augsburg, he main-
tamed that any effort on the part of the Emperor to repress Lutheran-
ism should be met with merely passive resistance, but any attempt by
the Catholic princes to repress it might be resisted actively. 6
The text of this tract is found in Weimar Ed. , XIX, 623 ff. f
Erlangeti Ed., XXII, 246 ff.; St. Louis Ed., X, 488 ff.;
B e r 1 i n E d . , VII, 383 ff., CLEMEN III, 317 ff.
For Literature, see the Introductions in Weimar and
Berlin Eds. and KARL HOLL, Luther (1923), pp. 267 ff.
CHARLES M. JACOBS
MOUNT AIRY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
* See SMITH & JACOBS, Luther's Correspondence, II, p. 385.
a See Letter of Dedication, below.
8 Cf. SMITH & JACOBS, 1 o c . c i t .
*In this edition, Vol. IV, pp. 219 ff.
"On Temporal Government. Vol. Ill,, pp. 228 ff and Ex-
P rS a 10 r f 'Ar 6 LXXXII Psalm, Vol. 'iV, pp. 287 ff.
Cf. DE WETTE, III, 319; SMITH & JACOBS, op. cit.fi, 435 ff
Vol. V-3. (31)
TO THE
WORSHIPFUL AND HONORABLE
ASSA VON KRAM, KNIGHT,
MY GRACIOUS LORD AND FRIEND,
MARTIN LUTHER
Letter of Grace and peace in Christ, worshipful and honorable dear
Dedication s j r anc j f r i en d. "When you were recently at Wittenberg at the
time of the Elector's entry, we talked of the conditions of the
soldiers, and in the course of the conversation many points
were raised touching matters of conscience. Thereupon you
and others asked me to publish a written opinion on this sub-
ject, because there are many who are offended by this occu-
pation. Some of them have doubts, others give themselves
up so completely for lost that they inquire no longer about
God, and cast soul and conscience to the winds. I myself
have heard some of these fellows say that if they were to
remember these things they could never go to war ; as though
war were such a great thing that we are not to think about
God and the soul when war is afoot ; and yet when we are in
danger of death, that is the very time when we ought most
to be mindful of God and the soul.
In order, then, that our best advice may be given to these
weak and timid and doubting consciences, and that the heed-
less may receive better instruction, I complied with your
request and promised this book. For if a man goes into
battle with a good and well-instructed conscience, he fights
well, since a good conscience never fails to make great cour-
age and a bold heart; but when the heart is bold and the
spirit confident, the fist is all the stronger, horse and man are
brisker, everything turns out better, and all the chances bet-
ter favor the victory which God then gives. On the other
hand, if the conscience is timid and uncertain, then the heart
(32)
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 33
cannot be right bold. It is impossible for a bad conscience
not to make men cowardly and fearful, as Moses says to his
Jews, "If you are disobedient, God will give you a fearful 28:25
heart, so that when you go out one way against your enemies,
you shall be scattered seven ways, and have no good for-
tune." Then horse and man are lazy and unprepared, and
lack vigor for the attack, and at last are defeated. As for the
rude and heedless consciences in the company, those who
are called daredevils and foolhardy fellows, with them
everything goes at haphazard, whether they win or lose. For
as it turns out for those who have good or bad consciences,
so it turns out for these rude beasts, too, because they are in
the army. Victory is not given on their account, for they
are only the shells and not the true kernel of the army.
Accordingly, I now send you this opinion of mine, given
according to the power that God has granted me, so that
you and others who would like to go to war in such a way as
not to lose God's favor and eternal life, may know how to
arm and how to guide yourselves. God's grace be with you.
Amen,
THAT SOLDIERS, TOO, CAN BE SAVED
1526
In the first place, a distinction must be made between an
occupation and the man who is in it, between a work and the
^^ Q ^ ^ n OCCU p at i on or a wor k can be good and right in
itself and yet be bad and wrong if the man in the occupation,
or the doer of the work is not good and right, or does not do
his duty rightly. The office of a judge is a precious and
godly office, whether it be that ofMundrichteror that
ofFaustrichter, 1 whom we call executioner. But when
the office is assumed by one to whom it has not been com-
mitted or by one who, though it has been committed to him,
discharges its duties with a view to securing money or favor,
then it is no longer right or good. The married state, also,
is precious and godly, but there is many a rascal and knave in
it. It is just the same way with the occupation or work of
the soldier; in itself it is right and godly, but we must see
to it that the persons who are in the occupation and who do
the work are the right kind of persons, godly and upright.
This we shall hear.
In the second place, I would have it understood that I
am not speaking, this time, about the righteousness that
makes men good in the sight of God. For the only thing that
can do that is faith in Jesus Christ, granted and given us by
the grace of God alone, without any works or merits of our
The QU- own, as I have written and taught so often and so much in,
tiont* other places; but I am speaking here about external right-
comd- e ousness which is to be sought in offices and works. In
can a* other words, to put it plainly, I am dealing here with such
Christian questions as these, whether the Christian faith, by which
we are accounted righteous before God can tolerate, along-
side it, that I be a soldier, go to war and slay and stab, rob
1 The MundrJchter is the judge who pronounces the sentence; the
Faustrlchter ia the one who executes it.
(34)
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 35
and burn, as one does to enemies, by military law, in times of
war; whether this work is sin or wrong, about which one
should have scruples before God; or whether a Christian
must only do good and love, and kill no one, nor do anyone
any harm. I say that this office or work, even though it
were godly and right, can nevertheless become bad and
wrong, if the person engaged in it is wrong and bad.
In the third place, it is not my intention to explain here at
length how the occupation and work of a soldier is in itself
right ^ and godly, because I have written quite enough about
that in the book OnTemporalGoverntnentJ 1 For
I might boast here that, since the time of the Apostles, the
temporal sword and temporal government have never been
so clearly described or so highly praised as by me. This
even my enemies must admit, but the reward and honorable
thanks that I have earned by it are to have my doctrine called
seditious, and condemned as resistance to rulers. God be
praised for that! For the very fact that the sword has been
instituted of God to punish the evil and protect the good and
preserve peace, (Romans xiii, I Peter iii) is proof, power- Rom - 13:
fid, and sufficient, that fighting and slaying and the other : P ^ 2:
things that war-times and martial law bring with them, have is'ff. "
been instituted by God. What else is war than the punish- what
ment of wrong and evil? Why does anyone go to war, iWat
except because he desires peace and obedience?
Although slaying and robbing do not seem to be a work of
love, and therefore a simple man thinks it not a Christian
thing to do, yet in truth even this is a work of love. By
way of illustration, a good physician, when a disease is so
bad and so great that he has to cut off a hand, foot, ear, eye,
or let it decay, does so, in order to save the body. Looked at
from the point of view of the member that he cuts off, he
seems a cruel and merciless man; but looked at from the
point of view of the body, which he intends to save, it turns
out that he is a fine and true man and does a work that is
good and Christian, as far as it goes. In the same way,
when I think of the office of soldier, how it punishes the
1 In this edition, Vol. Ill, pp, 228 ff.
36 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
wicked, slays the unjust, and creates so much misery, it seems
an unchristian work and entirely contrary to Christian love ;
but if I think of how it protects the good and keeps and pre-
serves house and home, wife and child, property and honor
and peace, then it appears how precious and godly this work
is, and I observe that it cuts off a leg or a hand, so that the
whole body may not perish. For if the sword were not on
guard to preserve peace, everything in the world must go to
ruin because of lack of peace. Therefore, such a war is only
a little, brief lack of peace that prevents an everlasting and
immeasurable lack of peace, a small misfortune that prevents
a great misfortune.
When men write about war, then, and say that it is a
great plague, that is all true; but they should also see how
great the plague is that it prevents. If people were good,
and glad to keep peace, war would be the greatest plague on
earth ; but what are you going to do with the fact that people
will not keep peace, but rob, steal, kill, outrage women and
children, and take away property and honor? The small
lack of peace, called war, or the sword, must set a check
upon this universal, world-wide lack of peace, before which
no one could stand. Therefore God honors the sword so
highly that He calls it His own ordinance, and will not have
men say or imagine that they have invented it or instituted
it. For the hand that wields this sword and slays with it
is then no more man's hand, but God's, and it is not man,
but God, who hangs, tortures, beheads, slays and fights. All
these are His works and His judgments. In a word, in
thinking of the soldier's office, we must not have regard to
the slaying, burning, smiting, seizing, etc. That is what
the narrow, simple eyes of children do, when they see in the
physician only a man who cuts off hands or saws off legs,
but do not see that he does it to save the whole body. So,
too, we must look at the office of the soldier, or the sword,
with grown-up eyes, and see why it slays and acts so cruelly.
Then it will prove itself to be an office that, in itself, is
godly, as needful and useful to the world as eating and
drinking or any other work.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 37
There are some who abuse this office, and slay and smite
needlessly, for no other reason than because they want to;
but that is the fault of the persons, not of the office, for
where is there an office or a work or any other thing so
good ^ that self-willed, wicked people do not abuse it? They
are like crazy physicians who would cut off a sound hand,
without necessity and just because they wanted to; nay,
they are a part of that universal lack of peace which must
be prevented by right war and sword, and forced into peace.
It always happens, and always has happened that those
who begin war unnecessarily are beaten, for they cannot
finally escape God's judgment, that is, His sword; it finds
them and strikes them at last, as happened to the peasants
in the revolt. 1 La3ce
In confirmation of this, we have the greatest preacher
and teacher, next to Christ, namely, John the Baptist (Luke
iii) who, when soldiers came to him and asked what they
should do, did not condemn their occupation and did not bid W
them desist from it, but rather confirmed it and said, "Be
. . - ,, * in Scrip-
content with your wages and do no one violence or wrong." tan
Thus he praised the profession of arms and, at the same
time, forbade the abuse of it. For the abuse does not
aff ect the office. Thus Christ, when He stood before Pilate,
admitted that war was not wrong, when He said, "Were I Jof i :36
king of this world, then would my servants fight that I
should not be handed over to the Jews." Here, too, belong
all the stories of war in Old Testament, the stories of
Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, and
all the Kings in the people of Israel. If war and the oc-
cupation of arms were in itself wrong and displeasing to
God, we should have to condemn Abraham, Moses, Joshua,
David, and all the rest of the holy fathers, kings, and princes,
who served God in this occupation and are of high renown
in Scripture because of this work. All this is well-known
to all who have read even a little in Holy Scripture, and
there is no need to offer further proof of it here.
Someone, perhaps, would say at this point that the case
1 Of 1525, see Vol. IV r pp. 219 ff.
38 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
was different with the holy fathers, because God had sep-
arated them from the other nations by choosing them as
His people, and had bidden them fight; and that, for this
reason, their example was insufficient for a Christian under
the New Testament, since they had God's command and
fought in obedience to God, while we have no command to
fight, but rather to suffer, and put up with everything. This
objection is answered clearly enough by St. Peter and St.
Paul, both of whom command obedience to worldly or-
dinances and to the commandments of worldly rulers even
under the New Testament, and we have heard above that
St. John the Baptist taught soldiers, as a Christian teacher,
and yet allowed them to remain soldiers, only so that they
did not abuse their occupation, did no one violence or
wrong, and were content with their wages. Therefore, even
under the New Testament, the sword is established by God's
word and commandment, and those who use it aright and
fight obediently, serve God thereby and are obedient to His
Word.
Think for yourself ! If we were to give way on this paint
and admit that war was wrong in itself, we would then have
to give way on all other points and allow that the use of the
sword was entirely wrong. For if the sword is a wrong
thing when used for fighting, it would also be a wrong
thing when used for punishing evil-doers and keeping the
peace ; in a word everything it does would have to be wrong.
For what is just war, except the punishment of evil-doers
and the maintenance of peace? If one punishes a thief or a
murderer or an adulterer, that is punishment inflicted on a
single evil-doer; but in a just war one punishes at one time
a whole great crowd of evil-doers, who* are doing harm in
proportion to the size of the crowd. If, therefore, one work
of the sword is good and right, they are all right and good,
Rom. for the sword is a sword and not a fox-tail, 1 and it is called,
13:4 in Romans xiii, "The wrath of God."
Matt. But in reply to their objection that Christians are not com-
5:39 manded to fight and that examples are not enough, because
1 The use of the expression "fox-tail" for punishment that consist* only in
a gesture is not uncommon with Luther.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 39
they have a teaching from Christ that they are not to resist
evil, but suffer all things, in reply to this I have made
sufficient answer in my book On Temporal Author-
i t y. 1 For Christians, indeed, do not fight and have no worldly
rulers among them. Their government is a spiritual govern-
ment, and, according to the Spirit, they are subjects of no one
but Christ. Nevertheless, so far as body and property are con-
cerned, they are subject to worldly rulers and owe them obedi-
ence. If worldly rulers call on them to fight, then they ought
to and must fight, and be obedient, not as Christians but as
members of the state and obedient subjects, as regards the
body and temporal possessions. Therefore, when they
fight, they do it not for themselves or on their own account,
but as a service and act of obedience to the rulers under
whom they are, as St. Paul writes to Titus, "They shall Tit. 3: i
obey the rulers."
That is the sum and substance of it. The sword is in it-
self right and is a divine and useful ordinance, which God
will have not despised, but feared, honored, and obeyed, on
pain of vengeance, as Paul says, in Romans xiii. For He Rom -
has established two kinds of government among men. The 13:4
one is spiritual; it has no sword, but it has the Word, by
means of which men are to become good and righteous, so
that with this righteousness they may attain everlasting life.
This righteousness He administers through the Word, which
He has committed to the preachers. The other is worldly
government, through the sword, which aims to keep peace
among men, and this He rewards with temporal blessing.
For He gives to rulers so much property, honor, and power,
to be possessed by them above others, in order that they may
serve Him by administering this righteousness. Thus God
Himself is the founder, lord, master, protector, and rewarder
of both kinds of righteousness. There is no human or-
dinance or authority in either, but each is altogether a divine
thing.
Since, then, it is beyond doubt that the occupation 3 is,
*In this edition. Vol. Ill, pp. 22S ff.
"i.e. Of a soldier.
40 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
in itself a right and godly thing, we will now discuss the
Areto persons who are in it and the use they make of their posi-
tion; for it is most important to know who is to use this
office and how he is to use it. And here enters the fact
that when we try to set up fixed rules and laws for this
matter, there arise so many cases and exceptions that it is
very difficult, or even impossible, to decide everything ac-
curately and equitably. This is the case with all laws ; they
can never be fixed so certainly and so justly that cases do
not arise which deserve to be made exceptions. If the ex*
ceptions are not made, and the law is strictly followed, it
would be the very greatest wrong; as the heathen Terence
says, "The strictest law is the greatest wrong" ;* and Solomon
7 ;1 g. also teaches in his Ecclesiastes, that we are not to be all too
10:1 right, but at times to be unwise.
By way of illustration: In the recent rebellion of the
peasants, 3 there were some who were drawn into it against
their will. These were especially people who were well-to-
do, for the rebellion struck the rich, as well as the rulers,
and it may fairly be assumed that no rich man favored the
rebellion. At all events, there were some who had to go
along without their own consent. Some, too, yielded to this
compulsion, thinking that they could check the mad mob
and with good counsel, hinder somewhat their wicked pur-
pose and keep them from doing so much evil, thus rendering
a service to themselves and to the rulers. Others, again,
were drawn in by permission of their lords, whom they asked
about it in advance; and there may have been other similar
cases. For no one can imagine all of them, or comprise
them all in the law.
La W Here, then, stands the law and says, "All rebels are
d guilty of death and these three kinds of men were found
Bqilit7 among the rebellious crowd, in the very act of rebellion."
What shall we do to them? If we are to allow no excep-
tions a^nd let the law take its strict course, they must die
just like the others, who had a guilty heart and will in their
1 "Summum jus, sum ma injuria. Heautontimarou-
m e n o s IV, 5.
a Cf. Vol. IV, pp. 219 ff.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 41
act of rebellion, although those of whom we are speaking
had an innocent heart and a good will. Some of our knight-
lets 1 did this, especially to rich men, when they thought they
could rob them, if they could say to them, "You, too, were
in the crowd; you must go out." 3 In this way they have
done great wrong to many people and shed innocent blood,
made widows and orphans, and taken their property be-
sides; and they are of the nobility. Yes, of the nobility!
The excrement of the eagle can boast that it comes from
the eagle's body 8 though it stinks and is useless ; and so these
men can also be of the nobility. We Germans are Ger-
mans, and stay Germans ; that is, swine and senseless beasts.
And so I say now that, in cases like those of the three kinds
mentioned, the law ought to yield and justice take its place.
For the law says dryly, "Rebellion is punishable with death,
as crimen laesae majestatis, a sin against the
rulers."* But justice says, "Yes, dear law, it is as you say;
but it can happen that two men do like acts with unlike
hearts and intentions." Judas, for example, kissed Christ
in the garden ; this was outwardly a good work ; but his heart
was bad and betrayed his Lord with the good work that
Christ and His disciples did to one another at other times
with a good heart. Again, Peter sat down by the fire with 22:55
the servants of Annas and warmed himself with the god-
less, and that was not good. Now if the law were to be
applied strictly, Judas would have to be a good man and
Peter a rascal; but Judas' heart was bad and Peter's was
good; therefore justice must, in this case, be mistress of the
law.
Therefore those who were among the rebels with good
intentidns justice not only acquits, but holds worthy of
double grace. They are just like the pious Hushai, the
Archite, who joined the rebellious Absalom and acted obedi-
ently, by David's orders, with the intention of helping David
*Ju nckerlein,
a i.e. r To death.
* Luther's play cm the words A del, "nobility," and Adeler "eagle," is
not translatable.
4 **The crime of Taigk treason.** Under the Roman and feudal law, it was
an offense against the person of the ruler-
42 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
ii Sam. ari d checking Absalom, as it is all finely written in the second
I6:i6ffik k f Samuel xv and xvi. Outwardly considered, Hushai,
too, was a rebel, with Absalom, against David; but he
earned great praise and honor everlastingly before God and
all the world. If David had allowed this Hushai to be con-
demned as a rebel, it would have been just as praiseworthy
a deed as those which our princes and knightlets are now
doing to equally innocent people, nay, to people who have
deserved well.
This virtue, or wisdom, which can and must guide and
moderate the severity of law according to cases, and which
judges the same deed to be good or evil according to the
difference of heart or intention, this virtue is called in
Greek epieikeia, in Latin aequitas; I call it
Billigkeit. 1 For because law must be framed simply,
in dry, short words, it cannot possibly embrace all the cases
and the hindrances. Therefore, the judges and lords must
be wise and pious in this matter and mete out reasonable
justice, and let the law take its course, or set it aside, accord-
ingly. The head of a household makes a law for his ser-
vants, telling them what they are to do on this day or that ;
there is the law, and the servant who does not keep it must
take his punishment. Now one of them may be sick, or be
otherwise hindered from keeping the law, by no fault of his
own ; then the law is suspended, and he would be a mad head
of a house who would punish a servant for that kind of neg-
lect of duty. In like manner, all laws that regulate men's
actions must be subject to justice, their mistress, because of
the many, innumerable, various accidents that can happen,
and that no one can anticipate or set down.
Accordingly, we have the following to say of the persons
who are affected by the law of war or who are occupied with
war. First, War may be made by three kinds of people.
An equal may make war against his equal, that is, of the two
persons neither is the vassal or subject of the other, though
the one may be less great or glorious or mighty than the
* "Jtwtice."
Pror.
26:27
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 43
other. Or a superior may fight against his inferior. Or an
inferior may fight against his superior. Let us take the
third case. Here stands the law, and says, "No one shall
fight or make war against his overlord; for a man owes his
overlord obedience, honor and fear" (Romans xiii). If
one chops over one's head, the chips fall in one's eyes, and
as Solomon says, "He who throws stones in the air, upon
his head they fall." That is the law in a nut-shell. God
Himself has instituted it and men have accepted it, for it
does not fit together that men shall both obey and resist, be
subject and not put up with their lords.
But we have already said that justice ought to be mistress
of law, and where circumstances demand, guide the law, or
even command and permit men to act against it. Therefore is There
the question here is whether it can be just, i.e., whether a w * ht
a^case can arise in which one can act against this law, be "
disobedient to rulers and fight against them, depose them or
put them in bonds.
There is among us men a vice which is called f raus 1 ;
that is, deception or trickery. If 'this vice of ours discovers
that justice is superior to law, as has been said, then it
(becomes altogether against the law and seeks and hunts day
and night for some way to bring itself to market under the
name and appearance of justice and thus sell itself, so that
the law comes to nothing and fraud becomes the sweet thing
that does everything it ought to do. Therefore, there is a
proverb which says, Inventa lege, inventa est
fraus legis, "When a law starts, Mistress Fraud is
soon on hand."
The heathen, because they knew nothing of God, did not
know that temporal government is God's ordinance, for they
held it as the good fortune and the deed of men arid there-
fore they jumped right in here and thought that it was not
only right, but also praisewprthy to depose, kill and drive out
worthless and wicked rulers. Therefore, the Greeks, in
public laws, promised jewels and presents to tyrannicides,
that is, to those who stab or otherwise destroy a tyrant. The
Romans in the days of their empire followed mightily after
44 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
this example and themselves killed almost the majority of
their emperors, so that in that great empire, almost no em-
peror was ever slain by his enemies and yet few of them
died in their beds a natural death. The people of Israel
and Judah also slew and destroyed some of their kings.
But these examples are not enough for us, for we are not
asking here what the heathen or the Jews have done, but
what is the right and the just thing to do, not only before
God in the spirit, but also in the divine external ordinance
of temporal government. For if today or tomorrow a people
rises up and deposes their lord or slays him, well, that will
happen, and the lords must expect it, if it is God's decree ;
but it does not follow that for that reason it is a right and
just act. I have never known a case of this kind that was
just, and even now I cannot imagine one. The peasants in
their rebellion alleged that the lords would not allow the
Gospel to be preached and robbed the poor people, and,
-therefore that they must be overthrown; but I have an-
swered this by saying that although the lords did wrong in
this, it would not therefore be just or right to do wrong in.
return, that is, to be disobedient and destroy God's ordi-
nance, which is not ours. On the contrary, we ought to
suffer wrong and if prince or lord will not tolerate the
Gospel, then we ought to go into another princedom where
Matt, the Gospel is preached, as Christ says in Matthew x, "If
10:23 you j n one ^ flee
It is just, to be sure, that if a prince, king, or lord goes
crazy, he should be deposed and put under restraint, for he
is not to be considered a man since his reason is gone. Yes,
you say a raving tyrant is crazy, too, or is to be considered
even worse than a madman, for he does much more harm,
That answer puts me in a tight place, for such a statement
makes a great appearance and seems to be in accord with
justice. Nevertheless, it is my opinion that the cases of
amdmen and tyrants are not the same ; for a madman can
r da nor tolerate anything reasonable, nor is there any
for him because the light of reason has gone out. But
however much of this kind of thing he does, knows
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 45
that he does wrong. He has his conscience and his knowl-
edge, and there is hope that he may do better, allow himself
to be instructed, and learn, and follow advice, none of which
things can be hoped for in a crazy man, who is like a clod or
a stone. Moreover, such conduct has a bad result or sets a
bad example. If it is called right to murder or drive out
tyrants, the thing grows and it becomes a common sign of
self-will to call men tyrants who are not tyrants, and even
tto kill them if the mob takes a notion to do so. This the
Roman histories show us. They killed many a fine emperor
only because they did not like him or he did not do what
they wanted, and did not let them be lords, and held them
for their servants and monkeys as happened to Galba, Per-
tinax, Gordian, Alexander and others. 1
We cannot pipe much to the mob. It goes mad too
quickly, and it is better to take ten ells from it than to
allow to it a hand-breadth, nay a finger's-breadth in such a
case, and it is better that the tyrants do the wrong a hundred
times than that they once do wrong to the tyrants. If wrong
is to be suffered, then it is better to suffer it from the rulers
than that the rulers suffer it from their subjects. For the
mob has no moderation and knows none, and in every indi-
vidual in it there stick more than five tyrants. Now it is
better to suffer wrong from one tyrant, that is, from the
ruler, than from unnumbered tyrants, that is, from the mob.
It is said that the Swiss, in earlier days, slew their over-
lords and made themselves free, and the Danes have recently
driven out their king, 3 and the cause in both cases has been
the intolerable tyranny which their subjects had to suffer;
but I have said above that I am not discussing here what the
heathens do or have done, or anything that resembles their
examples and history, but what one ought to do and can
do with a good conscience, so that one is safe and sure that
the thing he does is not in itself wrong before God. For I
know well enough and I have read in a few histories how
*A11 of these emperors were deposed in revolutions of the army; Galba in
69 A. D.; Pertinax 193; Gordian 244; Alexander 235.
* Christian II tfa* driven out of Denmark in 1523, after ten years on the
throne of the thre Scandinavian kingdoms.
46 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
often subjects have slain or driven out their rulers as the
Jews did and the Greeks and the Romans, and God has
allowed it to happen and has allowed them to grow and
increase in spite of it. But at last there has always been a
terrible end to it, for the Jews were finally suppressed and
dispersed by the Assyrians, the Greeks by King Philip, the
Romans by the Goths and the Lombards, the Swiss have
paid for it dearly with much blood and they are paying for
it yet, and it is easy to see what the outcome will be. The
Danes, too, are not yet through with the business. But I see
no lasting government except where rulers are held in honor.
An illustration is the Persians, the Tartars and more of
those peoples, who not only maintained themselves against
the Romans with all their power, but H destroyed them and
many other lands.
uii9 My reason is this alone; namely, that God says, 'Ven-
Matt geance is mine, I will repay," and again, "Judge not -"
7:i Besides, it is strictly and often forbidden in the Old Testa-
Exod. ment to curse rulers or speak evil of them, as in Exodus
22:28 ^i^ "Thou shalt not curse the prince of thy people." Pau
i Tim. j n i Timothy ii, teaches Christians to pray for rulers. Solo-
mon teaches everywhere in his Proverbs and Ecclesiastes to
obey the king and be subject to him. Now no one can deny
that if subjects set themselves against their rulers, they
revenge themselves and make themselves judges, which is
not only against the ordinance and command of God, who
will have judgment and vengeance belong to Him, but also
against all natural law and justice. So it is said, "No one
shall be his own judge/' and again, "He who strikes back
is wrong."
Here you will say, perhaps, "Yes, if everything is to be
endured from the tyrants, you give them too much and their
wickedness only becomes stronger and greater by such teach-
ing. Is it to be endured then that every man's wife and child,
body and goods, are to be in danger? Who can start any
good thing if that is the way we are to live?" I reply: My
teaching is not for you, if you will to do whatever you think
good and whatever pleases you. Follow your own notion
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 47
and slay all your lords, and see what good it does you. My
teaching is only for those who would like to do right. To
these I say that rulers are not to be opposed with violence
and rebellion, as the Romans, the Greeks, the Swiss and the
Danes have done; but there are other ways of dealing with
them.
In the first place, if they see that the rulers think so little
of their soul's salvation that they rage and do wrong, of
what importance is it that they ruin your property, body,
wife and child? They cannot hurt your soul, and they do
themselves more harm than they do you, because they damn
their own souls and the ruin of body and property must then
follow. Do you think that you are not already sufficiently
revenged upon them?
In the second place, what would you do if these rulers of
yours were at war and not only your goods and wives and
children, but you yourself must be broken, imprisoned,
burned and slain for your lord's sake? Would you for that
reason slay your lord ? How many fine people did Emperor
Maximilian lose in war during his lifetime, but no one did
anything to him for it; and if he had destroyed them by
tyranny no more cruel deed would ever have been heard of.
Nevertheless, he was the reason that they perished, for they
were killed for his sake. How, then, does a raging tyrant
differ from a perilous war which strikes many a fine and
honest and innocent man? Nay, a wicked tyrant is more
tolerable than a bad war, as you must admit if you inquire
of your own reason and experience. I believe, indeed, that
you would like to have peace and good days, but suppose
God prevents you by war or tyrants ! Now, make up your
mind for yourself whether you would rather have war or
tyrants, for you have deserved both, and are guilty before
God, but we are such fellows that we want to be knaves
and stay in sin, and yet want to avoid the punishments for
sin even to resist it and defend our sin. We shall succeed
as well as the dog who bites the spikes. 1
1 Feasibly, "who attacks a hedge-hog." (Clemen).
Vol. V 4.
48 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
?* In the third place, if the rulers are bad, what of it? God
mentof * s there, and He has fire, water, iron, stone and numberless
wicked ways of killing. How quickly He has slain a tyrant! He
3 ^ aeara would do it, too, but our sins do not permit it; for He says
34:3o i n ]b, "He letteth a knave rule because of the people's
sins." It is easy enough to see that a knave rules, but no
one is willing to see that he is ruling not because of his
knavery, but because of the people's sin. The people do not
look at their own sin, and think that the tyrant rules because
of his knavery ; so blinded, perverse and mad is the world !
That is why things go as they went with the peasants in the
revolt. They wanted to punish the sins of the rulers, just as
though they were themselves pure and guiltless ; therefore,
Ma"- God had to show them the beam in their eye in order to make
them forget another's splinter.
In the fourth place, the tyrants run the risk that, by
God's decree, their subjects may rise up, as has been said,
and slay them or drive them out. For we are here giving
instruction to those who want to do what is right, and they
are very few; the great multitude remain heathen, godless,
and unchristian, and these, if God so decrees, set themselves
wrongfully against the rulers and create disaster, as the
Jews and Greeks and Romans often did. Therefore you
have no right to complain that by our doctrine the tyrants
and rulers gain security to do evil; nay, they are certainly
not secure. We teach, to be sure, that they ought to be
secure, whether they do good or evil; but we cannot give
them this security or achieve it for them; for we cannot
compel the multitude to follow our teaching, if God does not
give us grace. We teach what we will, and the world does
what it will. God must help, and we must teach those who
are willing to do what is good and right so that they may
help hold the multitude in check. Because of our teaching
the lords are just as secure as they would be without our
teaching; for unfortunately your complaint is unnecessary,
since the most of the crowd do not listen to us and it rests
with God and in God's hands alone to preserve the rulers,
whom He alone has ordained. We experienced this in the
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 49
peasants' rebellion. Therefore, do not be misled by the fact
that the rulers are wicked; their punishment and disaster
are nearer than you could ask. The tyrant Dionysius of
Syracuse confessed that his life was like that of a man over
whose head a sword hung by a silken thread and under whom
a glowing fire was burning.
In the fifth place, God has still another way to punish
rulers, so that you have no need to revenge yourself. He
can raise up foreign rulers, like the Goths against the
Romans, the Assyrians against the Jews, etc., so that there
is vengeance, punishment, and danger enough hanging over
tyrants and rulers, and God does not allow them to be
wicked and have peace and joy; He is right behind them,
and has them between spurs and under bridle. This agrees,
also, with the natural law that Christ teaches, in Matthew
vii, "What ye would that people do to you, that do you to
them." No father would be driven out by his own family,
slain, or ruined because of his misdeeds (especially if the
family did it out of disregard of authority and love of vio-
lence, in order to revenge themselves and be judges in their
own case) without previous complaint to a higher authority.
It ought to be just as wrong for any subject to act against
his tyrant.
I must give an example or two of this. They should be
noted, and it would be profitable to follow them. We read
. ,- * ^ - r ,
of a widow who stood and prayed for her tyrant most
devoutly, that God would let him live long, etc The tyrant
heard it and was astonished because he well knew that he
had done her much harm, and this prayer was unusual ; for
prayers for tyrants are not commonly of that kind. He
asked her why she prayed thus for him. She answered, "I
had ten cows in your grandfather's time; he took two of
them and I prayed against him that he might die, and your
father became lord. It came to pass, and your father took
three cows. I prayed again that you might become lord, and
he might die. Now you have taken four cows, and so I am
praying for you, for I am afraid that he who comes after
you will take the last cow and everything that I have." The
50 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
scholars, too, have a parable about a beggar who was full
of wounds that flies got into, and sucked his blood and stung
him. There came a merciful man who wanted to help him
and drove all the flies away from him ; but he cried out and
said, "What are you doing? Those flies were almost full
and did not worry me so much ; now the hungry flies will
come in their place and will plague me far worse."
Do you understand these fables? To change rulers and
improve rulers are two things as far apart as heaven and
earth; changing may be easy, improving is doubtful and
risky. Why? Because it is not in our will or power but
only in the will and the hand of God. The mad mob, how-
ever, does not ask so much how things can become better,
but only that things may be changed; then if things are
worse, they will want something still different. Thus they
get bumble-bees for flies, and at last they get hornets for
bumble-bees; like the frogs of old who could not put up
with a log for lord; they got instead a stork that hacked
them on the head and ate them/ A mad mob is a desperate,
accursed thing ; no one can rule it as well as tyrants. They
are the club tied to the dog's neck. If there were a better
way to rule them, God would have set some other ordi-
nance over them than a sword and tyrants. The sword
shows what kind of children it has under it; namely, people
who would be desperate knaves if they 'dared.
Therefore, I advise everyone who would act in this matter
with a good conscience and do what is right, that he be
satisfied with the worldly rulers and make no attack upon
them, seeing that worldly rulers cannot do harm to the soul,
as clergy and false teachers do ; and let him follow the good
David, who suffered as much violence from King Saul as
you can. ever suffer, and yet would not lay a hand upon his
king, as he ^could often have done, but commended the mat-
ter to God, let things go as long as God would have them so,
and endured to the end. If war or strife arise against your
*Cf. Vol. Ill, p. 333. *Frogs must have storks." (Cl. II, 383). Luther was
very fond of ^sop's fables, publishing some of them in German in 1530
(Weimar E d . 1. 440 ff.)
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 51
overlord, leave the fighting and striving to those who want
it; for, as has been said, if God does not hold back the
crowd, we cannot hold them; but if you would do what is
right and have a secure conscience, let your harness and arms
lie, and do not fight against your lord or tyrant ; rather suf-
fer everything that can happen to you. The crowd which
does the fighting, will find its judge.
"But/* you say, "suppose that a king or lord has given an war*f
oath to his subjects to rule according to prescribed articles, 1
and does not keep them, and thus has the duty to give up the
government. So it is said that the king ofj France must
rule his kingdom according to the P a r 1 e m e n t s and jMtified
the king of Denmark must also swear to certain articles, etc."
I answer : It is fine and just that rulers govern according to
laws and administer them and do not rule according to their
self-will. Nevertheless, I add this, not only does a king
promise to keep the law of his land or the articles of election,
but God Himself commands him to be righteous, and he
promises to do so. Well, then, if this king keeps neither God's
law nor the law of the land, ought you to attack him, judge
him, and take vengeance on him ? Who has committed that
to you? Another ruler would have to come between you,
who would hear both sides and condemn the guilty party;
otherwise you will not escape the judgment of God, who Rom -
says, "Vengeance is mine," and again, "Judge not" (Mat- Matt!
thew vii). 7 -*i
The case of the king of Denmark 3 is in point here. Lue-
beck and the sea-towns joined with the Danes to drive him
out. Therefore, I shall give my answer for the sake of
those who may, perhaps, have a bad conscience in this mat-
ter, on the chance that some of them may think better of
their conduct and know themselves better. It is- true, indeed,
that the king is unjust before God and the world, and the
law is entirely on the side of the Danes and the Luebeckers.
*The custom was not uncommon -under the feudal regime. It contains the
germ of modern constitutional government.
3 Christian II, mentioned above. He was driven out by a combination of his
own barons, supported by the Hanseatic League. Cf. Cambridge Mod-
ern History II, 228,
52 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
That is one thing. But there is another thing, viz., that
the Danes and Luebeckers have proceeded as judges and
overlords of the king, and have punished and avenged the
wrong, and thus assumed the right of judgment and ven-
geance. Here come in questions for the conscience. If the
case comes before God, He will not ask if the king was
unjust and you just, for that has become clear; but He will
ask, "You lords of Denmark and Luebeck, who commanded
you to do these acts of punishment and vengeance? Did I
command you, or did the emperor, or overlord? If so, prove
it by letters patent." If they can do so, then they stand
well; if not, God will judge thus, "You rebellious stealers
from God, who lay hands upon my office and have taken it
upon you to execute divine vengeance, you are guilty of
laesae majestatis divinae, 1 that is, you have
sinned against divine majesty and brought it down upon
you." For to be wrong and to punish wrong are different
things, jus et executio juris, justitia et
administratio justitiae. To be right and
wrong is common to every man; but to declare right and
wrong is for Him who is Lord of right and wrong, and He
is God alone, who commits this office to rulers, in His stead.
Therefore, let no one assume to do this, unless he is sure
that he has a command from God, or from God's servants,
the rulers.
If things were to be so that everyone who was in the right
might himself punish everyone who did wrong, what would
become of the world? The servant would smite the master,
the maid the mistress, the children the parents, the pupils
the teacher. That would be a fine order of things ? What
need would there be, then, for judges and worldly rulers,
appointed by God? Let the Danes and Luebeckers con-
sider whether they would think it right if their servants,
citizens and subjects resisted them whenever they were
wronged. Why, then, do they not do to others what they
wotdd that others should do to them, and exempt others
1 "High treason against God."
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 53
from a rule from which they themselves wish to be exempt, Matt
as Christ teaches, in Matthew vii, and the natural law also 7:12
teaches? To be sure, the Luebeckers and the other cities
might help themselves by saying that they were not subjects
of the king, but were dealing as enemy with enemy, or equal
with equal. The poor Danes, however, were subjects and
acted against their ruler without command from God, and
the Luebeckers advised them and helped them. Thus they
took upon themselves the burden of others* sins and mixed
themselves up and entangled themselves and tied themselves
up to this rebellious disobedience toward both God and man,
not to mention the feet that they despised the emperor's
commands also.
I mention this case here by way of illustration, because we
are discussing the doctrine that a person of lower rank shall
not oppose a person of higher rank; for this expulsion of the
king of Denmark is a notable history, and serves here to
warn all others, to beware of this example and in the hope
that the consciences of those who did it may be touched and
that some of them may reform and leave their iniquity,
before God comes and revenges Himself on His enemies and
those who have robbed Him. Not that all of them will care
about this ! The great multitude, as has been said, does not
care about God's Word; it is an abandoned crowd and is
being made ready for God's wrath and punishment. But I
am satisfied that some will take it to heart and not involve
themselves in the deeds of the Danes and Luebeckers, and
if they have been involved, will get out of it and not be par-
takers of other people's sin. For each of us has more than
enough of his own sins to answer for.
At this point I shall have to pause and listen to my critics,
who cry, "Ei, that means, I think, flattering the princes?
Are you creeping now to the cross and seeking pardon?
Are you afraid? etc." I let these bumble-bees buzz and be
on their way. If anyone can do better, let him. I have not
undertaken here to preach to the princes and lords. I think,
too, that this flattery of mine will get me scant grace and
that they will not be very glad for this flattery, because it
54 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
puts their whole class in jeopardy, as you have heard. Be-
sides, I have said often enough elsewhere, and it is all too
true, that the most of the princes and lords are godless
tyrants and enemies of God, who persecute the Gospel and
are my ungracious lords and sirs ; and I am not greatly con-
cerned about that. But I teach that everyone should know
how to conduct himself in this matter and how he ought to
act toward his superiors, and should do what God has com-
manded him, letting the lords look to themselves and stand
on their own feet. God will not forget the tyrants and men
of high rank; He is able to deal with them, and He has
done so since the beginning of the world.
Moreover, I will not have what I write here applied to the
Princes peasants only, as though they were the only ones of lower
May Not rank, and the nobles were not subjects also. Not so! What
ar I say about inferiors in rank is intended to hit peasants,
Superiors burghers, nobles, counts and princes ; for all these have over-
lords and are the inferiors in rank of someone else. Just as
a rebellious peasant has his head struck off, so a rebellious
nobleman, count, or prince should have his head struck off.
The one should be treated like the other and no one is
wronged.
The Emperor Maximilian, I believe, could have sung a
pretty little song about rebellious princes and nobles who
would have liked to make a disturbance and put their heads
together. And the nobles! How often have they com-
plained and made conspiracies and sought to defy the princes
and make a disturbance? What a cry have the Franconian
nobility alone raised about how little they care for the
emperor or for their bishops. These knightlets must not be
called disturbers or rebels, even though that were just what
they were; the peasant must stand for it and keep still. But
unless my mind deceives me, God has punished the rebellious
lords and nobles by the rebellious peasants, one knave by
another, since Maximilian had to endure them and could not
punish them, though he had to restrain them as long as he
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 55
lived. 1 I would wager something that if the peasants had not
revolted, a rebellion would have arisen among the nobles
against the princes and perhaps against the emperor; so
critical was the position of Germany. 3 But now the peasants
got into it and they must be the only ones who are black;
the nobles and princes get off easy, wipe their mouths, are
pretty fellows, and never did anything bad. But God is not
deceived and has given them a warning, so that they may
learn by this example that they, too, must obey their rulers.
Let this be my flattery of princes and lords !
Here you say, "Are we, then, to put up with a ruler who
would be such a scoundrel that he let knd and people go to
ruin ? To speak in the fashion of the nobility Devil ! St.
Vitus' Dance. Pestilence! St. Anthony! St. Quirinusl* I
am a nobleman, and who shall allow my wife and children
and body and property to be so shamefully ruined?" I
reply: Listen! I am teaching you nothing; go on about
your business! You are smart enough; I am not needed.
The only trouble it costs me is that of seeing how you will
finish this high-pitched little song of yours.
To the others, who would like to keep their conscience
clear, we have this to say. God has cast us into the world,
under the power of the devil, so that we have here no para-
dise, but are to expect all kinds of misfortune to body, wife,
child, property, and honor every hour; and if ten misfor-
tunes do not come in an hour, nay, if you can live for an
hour, you ought to say, "Oh, how great is the kindness which
my God shows me, that in this hour every misfortune has
not come!" "How is that? Am I not to have a happy
hour under the devil's rule?" That is what we teach our
people. Of course, you may do something else; build your-
self a paradise where the devil may not come so that you
need not expect the rage of any tyrant; we will look on!
Ah, we are only too happy ! We want things as they are !
M.e., The peasants. Maximilian d3ed 1519.
a So gar stund Deudschland ynn einer Wage. "So evenly
were the scales balanced in Germany ."
* These words are all. expletives. "St Anthony's fire" is erysipelas; St.
Quirinus' disease is not Identified,
56 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
We do not recognize God's kindness, and do not believe in
it, the kindness He shows in protecting us, when the devil
is so wicked ! We want to be nothing but wicked knaves and
yet receive nothing but good from God.
That is enough on the first point, viz., that war and con-
flict with superiors cannot be right; and although it often
happens, and is in danger of happening every day, just as
everything else that is bad and wrong also happens, if God
decrees it and does not prevent it, nevertheless it does not
turn out well in the end and does not remain unavenged,
even though they who do it may have good fortune for a
while.
We will now take up the second point and discuss the ques-
ti n whether equals may fight with equals. This I would
Equals have understood as follows: It is not right to begin war
with whenever any crazy lord takes it into his head. For at the
very outset, I want to say, above all else, that he who starts
Must war * s wrong, and it is just that he who first draws sword
Not be shall be defeated, or even punished, in the end. This is what
^v has usually happened in history; those who have started
\ wars have lost them, and it has been seldom that they have
t been beaten who have had to defend themselves. Worldly
government has not been instituted by God to break peace
and start war, but to maintain peace and repress the fighters.
So Paul says, in Romans xiii, that the duty of the sword is
to protect and punish, to protect the good in peace and
punish the wicked with war; and God, who tolerates no
wrong, so disposes things that the fighters must be fought
down, and as the proverb says, "No one has ever been so
bad, that someone is not worse." So, too, God has it sung
* *8 sl of Him, in Psalm Ixvii, Dissipat gentes, quae
bella volunt, "The Lord scattereth the peoples who
have desire for war.!'
Beware, therefore; He does not lie! And be advised, and
hold far, far apart will and must, desire and necessity, lust
for war and willingness to fight. Do not let yourself be
tepnpted to think yotirself like the emperor of the Turks.
Wait until need and must come without desire and will.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 57
Then you will have enough to do and get enough of war, so
that you can say, and your heart can boast, "I would gladly
have had peace, if my neighbors had been willing." Thus
you can defend yourself with a good conscience, for there
stands God's word, "He scattereth those who have desire for
war." Look at the real soldiers, those who have been in the
game. They do not draw sword suddenly, do not brag, have
no desire to smite; but when they are compelled, so that
they have to do it, then beware of them ; they do not jest ;
their sword is tight in the sheath, but if they have to draw, it
does not return bloodless to the scabbard. On the other
hand, the crazy fools who are the first to fight wars in their
minds and make a fine start, devour the world with words,
and are the first to draw their swords ; but they are also the
first to run away and to put up their swords. The Romans,
that mighty empire, won most of their victories because they
had to fight; that is, everybody hung on them and wanted to
win his spurs at their expense, so that they had to defend
themselves; then they laid: about them vigorously enough.
Hannibal, the prince out of Africa, hurt them so that he had
almost destroyed them ; but what shall I say? He had begun ;
he also had to stop. Courage (from God!) remained with
the Romans, even though they lost, and where courage stays,
deeds surely follow. For it is God who does the deeds, and
He will have peace, and hates them that begin war and break
peace.
I must mention here the example of Duke Frederick, Elec-
tor of Saxony, for it would be too bad if that wise prince's
sayings were to die with his body. 1 He had to endure many
wicked plots on the part of his neighbors and of others,
and had such cause for war that another crazy prince, who
had desire for war, would have started ten wars ; and yet
he kept his sword in the sheath, always gave the others good
words, and acted as though he were very much afraid and
almost ready to flee, and let the others boast and brag, though
he held his ground before them. When asked why he let
1 Frederick had died in 1525.
58 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
them brag so, he replied, "I shall not start anything ; but if
I must fight, you shall see that it will be I who say when it
is to stop/' Thus he remained unbitten, though many dogs
showed their teeth. He saw that they were fools and could
be indulgent with them. If the king of France had not
begun the war against the Emperor Charles, he would not
have been so shamefully defeated and captured; 1 and now
that the Venetians and Italians are setting themselves against
the emperor, and starting trouble, 3 God grant that it may be
they who must first stop it and let the word be true, "God
PS. 68:i scattereth those who desire war," for even though the
emperor is my enemy, I do not love wrong.
All this God confirms with fine examples in the Scriptures.
He had His people first offer peace to the kingdoms of the
Amorites and Canaanites and would not have His people
begin the fight with them, so that this precept of His might
be confirmed. On the other hand, when these kingdoms
began the war and forced God's people to defend themselves,
Num. 21: they had to go to pieces. Self -protection is a proper cause
225. o f war an( i therefore all laws agree that self-defense shall
% unpunished, and he who kills another in self-defense is
innocent in everyone's eyes. Again, when the people of
Israel willed to smite the Canaanites without necessity, they
Num. were beaten (Numbers xiv) ; and when Joseph and Azarias
14:45 wanted to fight in order to win honor, they were beaten;
5:ssff! an d Amaziah, king of Judah, also desired to war against the
ii Kicking of Israel, but read, in II Kings xiv, what happened to
H:8ff. him;. a i s o King Ahab began to fight against the Syrians at
n 22 K ^ s Ramath, but lost and was destroyed (II Kings xxii) ; and
judges " *k e men f Ephraim would have devoured Jephthah and lost
12:6 42,000 men (Judges xii) ; and so on. You find that the
ii K&gs i os ers were a i m ost always those who started the war. The
good king Josiah had to be slain because he began to fight
against the king of Egypt, and had to make good the saying,
PS. 68:1 "The Lord scattereth those who desire to war." Therefore
1 At the battle of Pavia, Feb. 25, 1525.
3 The trouble that resulted in the sack of Rome by the imperial army in
May, 1527.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 59
my people in the Harz have a proverb, "I have verily heard
that he who smites is smitten." Why so? Because God
rules the world powerfully and leaves no wrong unpunished.
He who does wrong has his punishment from God, as sure
as^he lives, unless he repents and gives compensation to his
neighbor. I believe that Muenzer and his peasants would
have to admit this.
Let this be, then, the first thing to be said on this point,
War is not right, even between equal and equal, unless it is
fought with such a good conscience that one can say, "My
neighbor compels and forces me to fight, though I would
rather avoid it." In that case, it can be called not only war,
but due protection and self-defense. For a distinction must
be made among wars; some are begun out of a desire and
will to fight and before one is attacked, others are forced by
necessity and compulsion after the attack has been made by
the other party. The first kind can be called wars of desire,-
the, second wars of necessity. The first kind are of the devil;
God give him no good fortune ! The second kind are human
misfortunes ; God help in them !
Be instructed, therefore, dear lords! Keep yourselves
from war, unless you have to defend and protect yourselves
and the office which you bear compels you to fight. Then let
war come; hew in; be men, and test your armor; for then
you are not fighting in your minds. The case 'Will be serious
enough, and the teeth of the wrathful, boasting, proud iron-
biters will get so blunt that they will scarcely be able to bite
fresh butter.
The reason is this. Every lord and prince is bound to
protect his people and get peace for them. That is his office ;
it is for that that he has the sword (Romans xiii). This T 4
should be for him a matter of conscience and he should so
depend upon it as to know that this work is right in the
eyes of God and is commanded by Him. I am not now teach-
ing what Christians are to do ; for your rule does not con-
cern us Christians, but we are rendering you a service and
telling you what you are to do before God, in your office of
ruling. A Christian is a person to himself ; he believes for
60 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
himself and for no one else. But a lord and prince is not a
person to himself, but to others ; he has to serve them, that
is, protect and defend them. To be sure it were good if he
were a Christian besides and believed in God ; then he would
be happy ; but it is not princely to be a Christian and there-
fore few princes can be Christians, as they say, "A prince is
a rare bird in heaven." 1 Now even if they are not Chris-
tians, nevertheless they ought to do what is right and good
according to God's outward ordinance; He will have this
of them.
But if a lord or prince does not perceive this duty and
commandment, and lets himself think that he is prince, not
for his subjects' sake, but because of his beautiful, yellow
hair, as though God had made him a prince so that he may
rejoice in his power and wealth and honor, take pleasure in
these things and rely on them; if that be the case, he be-
longs among the heathen, nay, he is a fool. That kind of
prince would start a war over an empty nut and think of
nothing except satisfying his self-will. God keeps that kind
of prince in check by the fact that others, too, have fists and
that there are people the other side of the mountain, too ; thus
one sword keeps the other in the scabbard. But a prince
who has his reason does not consider himself; he is satis-
fied if his subjects are obedient. Though his enemies and
neighbors boast and brag and let fly many bad words, he
thinks, "Fools always gabble more than wise men: many
words go into the bag and silence is an answer to much."
Therefore he does not concern himself much about them
until he sees that his subjects are attacked or finds the sword
actually drawn; then he defends himself as well as he can,
ought, and must. Otherwise, one who is such a coward ias
to take up every word and seek the reason for it, is trying to
catch the wind in his cloak; how much peace or profit he
will have from that, let him confess himself ; then you will
find out.
That is the first thing on this point; it is equally necessary
*Cf. VoL II, p. 163; Vol. Ill, p. 184; cf. Vol. IV, p. 231.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 61
to note the second. Even though you are sure and certain Moat be
that you are not beginning it, but are forced into war, nev-
ertheless you must fear God and have Him before your eyes,
and not march out, saying, "Yes, I am forced into it and '
have good cause for war." If you depend on that and
plunge in headlong, that, too, is not the thing to do. It is
true that you have good reason to fight and defend yourself,
but that does not give you God's guarantee that you will
win. Indeed this very confidence may well be a reason why
you must lose, even though you had just cause for war, since
God cannot suffer confidence and pride except in one who
humbles himself before Him and fears Him. It pleases Him
when one fears neither man nor devil and is bold and con-
fident, brave and firm against both, if they began the war and
are in the wrong; but that this should win the victory, as
though it were our deeds or power that did it, there is nothing
in that! He will be feared and hear us singing, from, our
hearts, a song like this,' "Dear Lord, Thou seest that I have
to go to war, though I would be glad not to ; I da not build,
however, on the justice of my cause, but on Thy grace and
mercy ; for I know that if I were to rely on my just cause
and be confident because of it, Thou shouldest rightly let
me fall as one whose fall was just, because I relied upon my
right and not upon Thy sheer grace and kindness/'
Hear what the heathen say about this, the Greeks and
Romans, who knew nothing of God and the fear of God.
They held that it was they themselves who made war and
won victories ; but by long experience, in which a great and
well-armed people was often beaten by a small number of
ill-armed folk, they had to learn and freely admit that noth-
ing in war is more dangerous than to be secure and confident,
and thus they reached the conclusion that one should never
despise the enemy, no matter how small he may be ; also that
one should surrender no advantage, no matter how small it
be ; also that one should neglect no precaution, vigilance, or
attention, no matter how small it be; everything must be
measured out as though one were weighing gold. Foolish,
confident, heedless people serve no purpose in war, except to
62 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
do harm. The word, Non putassem , "I did not
think of it," they held to be the most shameful word that a
soldier could speak, for it is a sign of a secure, confident,
careless man, who in one moment, by one step, with one
word, can do more damage than ten of him can repair, and
then will say, "Indeed I did not think of it." How terribly
Prince Hannibal smote the Romans while they were con-
fident and secure against him; and cases of the kind are
innumerable in history, and are daily before our eyes.
The heathen learned this by experience and taught it, but
did not know how to give any reason or cause for it, except
to blame it on Fortune, of which they had to be afraid. But
the reason and cause is, as I have said, that God would testify
by all such histories that He will be feared, and even in such
things will not endure confidence, despite, temerity, or secur-
ity, until we learn to take from His hands all that we can
have, as a gift of pure grace and mercy. Therefore, it is a
strange thing that a soldier who has a good cause should be
at the same time confident and discouraged. How can he
fight, if he is discouraged But if he fights undiscouraged,
there is the more danger. This, then, is what he should do.
Before God, he should be discouraged, fearful, and humble,
and commit his cause to Him, that He may dispose things,
not according to our law, but according to His kindness and
grace ; thus he wins God to his side with an humble, fearful
heart. Toward men, he should be bold, free, confident, be-
cause they are in the wrong, and smite them with a confident
and untroubled spirit. Why should we not do for our God
what the Romans, the greatest fighters on earth, did for their
false god, Fortune, whom they feared ? If they did not do
this, they fought a perilous battle, or were badly beaten.
Therefore, our conclusion on this point is that war against
equals should be a thing that is made necessary and should
be fought in the fear of God. It is made necessary when an
enemy or neighbor makes the attack and starts the war, and
will not help when one offers to settle the case by legal pro-
cedure, discussion, or agreement; or when one passes over
and puts up with all sorts of evil words and tricks, but will
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 63
be content with nothing but his own way. 1 For I am assum-
ing throughout that I am preaching to those who want to do
right before God; those who will neither offer nor consent
to do what is right do not concern me. To fear God is not
to rely on the justice of one's cause, but to be careful, dili-
gent, and captious, even in the very smallest details, in so
small a thing as a whistle. With all this, however, God's
hands are not bound, so that He cannot bid us make war
against those who have given us no occasion. Thus He bade
the children of Israel go to war against the Canaanites. In
such a case there is necessity enough, viz., the command of
God ; though even such a war should not be fought without
fear and care, as God shows, in Joshua iii, when the children Josh *
of Israel marched confidently against the men of Ai, and
were beaten. A necessity of the same kind arises, if subjects
fight at the command of their rulers ; for God commands that
men are to obey their ruler, and his command is a necessity,
though this, too, must be done with fear and humility. Of
this we shall say more hereafter.
The third question is whether superiors have the right to
go to war with inferiors. We have, indeed, heard above that
subjects are to be obedient and are even to suffer wrong 1 from
their tyrants, so that, if things go well, the rulers have noth-
ing to do with their subjects except cultivate right, righteous-
ness and judgment ; but if they rise and rebel, as the peasants
did lately, then it is right and proper to fight against them.
That, too, is what a prince should do to his nobles, an
emperor to his princes, if they are rebellious and start a war.
Only it must be done in the fear of God, and too much re-
liance must not be placed on one's right, so that God may
not determine that the lords be punished by their subjects,
even though the subjects are in the wrong. This has often
happened, as we have heard above. For to be right and to
do right do not always go together; nay, they never go to-
gether except by the gift of God. Therefore, although it is
right that subjects be quiet and suffer everything, and not
*Wil schlecta mit dem kopffe hyndurch.
Vol, V-5.
64 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
revolt, nevertheless, it is not for men to decide whether they
shall do so; for God has appointed inferiors to care for
themselves alone and has taken the sword from them and
has put them in a prison; and if they make a disturbance
about it, and gather others to them, and break loose, and
take the sword, then before God they are worthy of judg-
ment and death.
Superiors, on the other hand, are appointed to be a com-
mon person, 1 and do not exist for themselves alone. They
are to have the attachment of their subjects and are to bear
the sword. For compared to the emperor, his overlord, a
prince is not a prince, but an individual in the obedience of
the emperor, as all others are, each for himself ; but com-
pared to his subjects, he is as many persons as he has people
under him and attached to him. So the emperor, too, when
compared with God, is not emperor, but an individual per-
son like all others; but compared with his subjects, he is as
many times emperor as he has people tinder him. The same
thing is to be said of all other rulers. When compared to
their overlord, they are not rulers at all and are stripped of
all rulership. When compared to one another, they are all
adorned with rulership. Thus, in the end, all rulership comes
to God, whose alone it is ; for He is emperor, prince, count,
noble, judge, and everything, and He divides these out to
His subjects as He wills, and brings them back again to
Himself. Now no individual person ought to set himself
against the community or attach the community to him, for
in so doing he is chopping above his head, and the chips will
surely fall in his eyes. From this you see how they resist
Rom. the ordinance of God who resist their rulers, as St. Paul
I clr 2 teac -' :les * n R man s xiii. Thus he says also, in I Corinthians
1S: 24 xv, that God will abolish all rulership, when He Himself
shall reign and return all things to Himself.
So much on these three points; now come the questions.
No king can go to war alone, any more than he can adminis-
ter the law courts alone ; he must have people who serve him
* E i n e getneiae person, i.e.,. the community assumes personality in
the ruler; in Hm the community is one person.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 65
in war, just as he must have counsellors, judges, lawyers,
prison-keepers, executioners, and whatever else belongs to
justice. Therefore, the question arises whether a man ought i.
to take wages, D ienstgeld or Manngeld,as they a
call it, and hire himself out, binding himself to serve the Pay?
prince as the times may demand, according to the present
custom. In answer to this question, we make a distinction
among these soldiers.
In the first place, there are the subjects, who, even without
such an arrangement, are obligated to aid their overlords
with body and goods and obey their summons. For the goods
that counts, lords and nobles hold, were parcelled out in
ancient times by the Romans and the Roman emperors and
given in fief on the condition that those who possess them
should always be armed and ready, the one with so many
horses and men, the other with so many, according to the size
of the holding. The holdings were the wages with which
they were hired. Therefore they are called fiefs and these
incumbrances still rest upon them. The emperor permits
these holdings to be inherited and this is right and fine in the
Roman Empire; but the Turk, it is said, allows none of
them to be inherited and tolerates no hereditary principality,
county, or knights' fee, or fief, but appoints to them, and
gives them how, when, and to whom he will. Therefore he
has such immeasurable wealth and is lord in the land, or
rather a tyrant.
The nobles, therefore, may not think that they have their
property for nothing, as though they had found it, or won it
in gambling. The encumbrance on it and the feudal dues
show whence and why they have it, namely, as a loan from
the emperor or the prince, so that they ought not use it for
display and riotous conduct, but be armed and prepared for
war for the protection of the land and the maintenance of
peace. Now if they complain that they must keep horses
and serve the princes and lords when others have quiet and
peace, I reply: Dear sir, let me tell you something. You have
your pay and your fief,, and are appointed to this office and
well paid for it. But have not others, too, work enough to
66 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
do on their little properties ? Or are you the only ones who
have work to do ? And your office 1 is seldom called for, but
others must do their duty every day. If you are not willing
to do this or think it burdensome or unjust, then let your
fief go; others will be found who will be glad to accept it
and do in return what it requires.
Therefore, the wise have included all the work of men in
two divisions, agriculturam and militiam, that
is, agriculture and warfare, and this is the natural division.
Agriculture is to feed and warfare to defend. Those who
are in the defending office are to get their income and their
food from those who are in the feeding office, in order that
they can defend; those who are in the feeding office are to
have protection from those who are in the defending office,
in order that they can feed. The emperor or prince in the
land is to look to both offices and see to it that those in the
defending office are armed and mounted, and those in the
feeding office are honestly trying to increase the food; but
useless people, who neither feed nor defend, but only con-
sume, loaf, and live in idleness, he should not tolerate, but
drive out of the land, as the bees do, who sting the drones
to death, because they do not work and only eat up the
Ecd. honey of the other bees. Thus Solomon, in his Ecclesiastes,
5:8 calls the kings builders, who build the land, for that should
be their office. But God preserve us Germans ! We are not
getting wise and doing this the right way, but are continuing
for a while to be consumers, and letting those be feeders and
defenders who have the desire for it or cannot get around it.
That this first class have a right to their pay and their
fiefs, and do right when they help their lord make war and
serve him in so doing, as is their duty, this St. John the
3:14 Baptist has confirmed, in Luke ii. When the soldiers asked
him what they were to do, he answered, "Be content with
your wages." For if it were wrong for them to take wages,
or if their occupation were against God, he could not have
let it continue, permitted it, and confirmed it, but, as a godly,
*i.e., Fighting.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 67
Christian teacher, he would have had to rebuke it and keep
them from it. This is the answer to those who, because of
tenderness of conscience, though this is now rare among
these people, profess that it is perilous to take up this
occupation for the sake of temporal goods, since it is noth-
ing else than bloodshed, murder, and the infliction of all
suffering upon one's neighbor, as times of war show. These
men should inform their consciences that they do not do this
from choice, desire, or ill-will, but that the word is God's
and that it is their duty to their prince and their God. There-
fore, since it is a right office, ordained of God, it is fitting
that there should be pay and reward for it, as Christ says,
in Matthew x, "A laborer is worthy of his hire."
Of course, it is true that if a man serves as a soldier, with
a heart that neither seeks nor thinks of anything but acquir-
ing wealth, and if temporal wealth is his only reason for
doing it, he is not happy when there is peace and is sorry
when there is no war. Such a man goes off the track and
is the devil's own, even though he fights out of obedience to
his lord and on his summons ; for he makes a bad work out
of a work that is, in itself, good ; with the addition that he
does not pay much attention to the fact that he serves from
obedience and duty, but only seeks his own profit. Therefore
he has not a good conscience, which can say, "Well, for my
part, I would like to stay at home, but because my lord calls
me and asks me, I come in God's name and know that I am
serving God in so doing, and I will earn or take the pay
that is given me for it." For a soldier ought to have the
knowledge and confidence that he is doing his duty, and
must do it, and thus be certain that he is serving God, and
can say, "It is not I that smite, stab, slay, but God and my
prince, whose servants my hand and my body now are." For
that is the meaning of the watchwords and battle-cries,
"Emperor!" "France!" "Lueneburg!" "Brunswick!" So 7:20
the Jews cried against the Midianites, "The sword of God
and Gideon !"
An avaricious fellow spoils all other good works, too ; for
68 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
Matt. example, a man who preaches for temporal wealth is lost,
though Christ says that a preacher shall live from the Gospel.
To do things for temporal wealth is not bad, for income,
wages, and pay are temporal wealth. If that were so, no
one could work or do anything for his support, because
everything is done for temporal wealth. But to be greedy of
temporal wealth and make a Mammon of it is wrong always
In all positions, in all occupations and works. Leave out
greed and other evil thoughts, and to fight in war is not
sin; take your wages for it, and whatever is given you.
Therefore, I said above that the work is, in itself, right and
godly, but it becomes wrong if the person is wrong or uses
it wrongly.
A second question: "Suppose my lord were wrong in
Fight going to war." I reply: If you know for sure that he is
toa wrong, then you should fear God rather than men (Acts
i y )> an d n ot %ht or serve, for you cannot have a good con-
g science before God. "Nay," you say, "my lord compels me,
5-29 takes my fief, does not give me my money, pay, and wages ;
and besides, I am despised and put to shame as a coward,
nay, as a faith-breaker in the eyes of the world, as one who
has deserted his lord in need." I answer : You must take
that risk and, with God's help, let go what goes; He can
restore it to you a hundredfold, as He promises in the Gos-
Matt P^> "He that leaveth house, home, wife, goods, for my sake,
19:29 shall get it back a hundredfold." In all other works, too, we
must expect the danger that the rulers will compel us to do
wrong; but since God will have us leave even father and
mother for His sake, we must certainly leave lords for His
sake. But if you do not know, or cannot find out whether
youMord is wrong, you ought not to weaken an uncertain
obedience with an uncertainty of right, but should think the
1 C il'-7 best f your lord ' as is the wa y of love > for "Love believeth
all things; thinketh no evil" (I Corinthians xiii). Thus you
are secure, and walk well before God. If they put you to
shame, or call you faithless, it is better that God call you
faithful and honorable than that the world call you faithful
and honorable. What good would it do you, if the world
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 69
held you for a Solomon or a Moses, and before God you
were counted as bad as Saul or Ahab?
The third question: "Can a soldier obligate himself to
serve more than one lord and take wages or service-money
from each?" Answer: I said above that greed is wrong,
whether in a good or a bad occupation. Agriculture is
certainly one of the best occupations, and yet a greedy
farmer is wrong and is condemned before God. So in this ^^o^e
case, to take wages is just and right, and to serve for wages Prince?
is also right, even though the wages were scarcely a
gulden a year. Again, to take wages and serve for them
is, in itself, right, no matter whether they come from one
or two or three or ever so many lords, so long as your heredi-
tary lord or prince is not deprived of his dues, and your ser-
vice to others is rendered with his will and consent. Just as
a good artisan may sell his skill to anyone who will have it,
and thus serve the one he sells to, so long as this is not
against his ruler and his community; so a soldier has his
skill in fighting from God and can serve with it whoever
desires his service, exactly as though it were an art or trade,
and he can take pay for it as though for his work. For
this, too, is a calling that springs from the law of love; if
any one needs me and calls for me, I am at his service, and
take for this whatever is due, or what is given me; for thus
says St. Paul, in I Corinthians ix, "No one serveth at his z Cotv
own charges." So he approves this right. Since, then, a 9 - 7
prince needs and requires another's subject for fighting, the
subject, with his own prince's consent and knowledge, may
serve and take pay for it.
"But suppose that one of the princes or lords were to make
war against the other, and I were obligated to both, but
preferred to serve the one who was in the wrong, because
he has showed me more grace or kindness than the one who
was in the right and from whom I get less, what then ?"
Here is the quick, short answer : Right, that is, that which
pleases God, should be above wealth, body, honor and friends,
grace, and enjoyment, and in this case there is no respecting
of persons, but only of God. In this case, too, a man must
70 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
put up with it if he is considered ungrateful or is despised,
for here there is an honest excuse, namely God and right,
which will not allow him to serve the one he likes best and
leave the one he likes least. Although the old Adam does
not listen willingly to this, nevertheless, it must be so if
right is to be kept; for there is no fighting against God, and
he who fights against right fights against God, who gives,
orders, and maintains all right.
4. o*iit THe fourth question: "What is to be said about the man
w j lo g 0eg to war not on jy f or t fe sa ^ e O f we alth, but also
for the sake of temporal honor, in order that he may become
a big man and be looked up to?" Answer: Greed of money
and greed of honor both are greed, the one as wrong as the
other, and he who fights in this vice gets hell for himself.
We are to leave the honor and give the honor to God alone
and be satisfied with the wages and rations. It is, therefore,
a heathen and not a Christian custom to exhort soldiers be-
fore the battle like this, "Dear comrades, dear soldiers, be
brave and confident ; God willing, we shall get honor today
and become rich." On the contrary, they should be exhorted
like this, "Dear comrades, we are gathered here in service,
duty, and obedience to our prince, and, according to God's
will and ordinance, we are bound to stand by him with body
and goods. Although, before God, we are poor sinners, as
are our enemies, nevertheless, since we know that our prince
is in the right in this case, or at least do not know otherwise,
we are therefore sure and certain that in serving and obeying
him, we are serving God. Let everyone, then, be brave and
courageous and let no one think otherwise than that his fist is
God's fist, his pike God's pike, and cry with heart and voice,
'God and the Emperor I 9 If God gives us victory, the honor
and praise shall be His, not ours, for He does it through us
poor sinners. But the booty and the pay we will take as
presents and gifts of His goodness and grace to us, who
are unworthy, and thank Him for them from our hearts.
Now God grant the victory ! Forward, with joy !"
For without doubt, if one seeks the honor of God and
lets Him have it as is just and right, and as it ought to be !
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 71
then more honor will come than anyone could seek, because
Ggd has promised in I Kings ii, "He that honoreth me, him I Sam.
will I honor again; but he that dishonoreth me shall be dis- 2:3
honored in return." Since He cannot fail to keep this
promise of His, He must honor those who honor Him, and it
is one of the greatest sins when one seeks one's own honor,
for this is nothing else than crimen laesae m a -
jestatis divinae "robbery of the divine majesty." 1
Let others, therefore, boast and seek honor ; do you be obe-
dient and quiet, and your honor will find you. Many a battle
is lost that might have been won if honor alone could have
done it. For these honor-greedy warriors do not believe
that God is in the war and gives the victory ; therefore they
do not fear God and are not joyful, but foolhardy and mad;
and at last they are beaten.
But I think those the best "comrades" who encourage
themselves, and have themselves encouraged, before the
battle with the thought of the women whom they love, and
have this said to them, "Ha, now, let everyone think of her
whom he loves best." I say this, if I had not heard that
this was done from two credible men, who had had experi-
ence in these matters, I would never have believed that in a
business of this kind, where the danger of death stares men
in the face, the human heart could so forget itself and be so
light. No one does this, to be sure, when he fights alone
with death, but here in the crowd the one stirs up the other,
and no one gives a thought to what affects him, because it
affects many. But to a Christian heart it is terrible to think
and hear that in the hour when one has God's judgment and
the peril of death before him, he tickles himself and encour-
ages himself with fleshly love; for those who are killed or
die thus certainly send their souls straight to hell without
xlelay.
"Nay," they say, "if I were to think of hell, I could never
go to war at all." That is still worse, to put God and His
judgment wilfully out of mind and neither know nor think
nor hear anything about them. Therefore a great part of
1 We might render it, "high treason against God." Cf. above, p. 52,
72 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
the soldiers belong to the devil, and some of them are so full
of the devil that they know no better way to prove their joy
than by speaking contemptuously of God and His judgment,
as though they were the real iron-eaters when they dare to
swear shamefully by the Passion, and curse, and defy God in
heaven. It is a lost crowd; it is chaff, and as in other
classes, there is much chaff and little wheat.
It follows that the lands knechts, 1 who wander
about the land seeking war, though they might work and
ply a trade till they were called for, and who thus waste
their time, from laziness or from roughness and wildness of
spirit cannot be on good terms with God. They can show -
God no reason and no good conscience for their gadding
about, but have only a foolhardy desire or eagerness for war
or for the leading of a free, wild life. In the nature of them,
a part of these fellows must finally become knaves and rob-
bers. But if they were to betake themselves to labor, or a
trade, and were to earn their bread, as God has commanded
all men to do, until their prince summoned them for him-
self, or; permitted and asked them to go to another, then
they could stand up with a good conscience as men who
knew that they were serving the pleasure of their overlord
by it ; and this fine conscience they could not have otherwise.
For it ought to be to all the world a comfort and joy, nay, a
mighty reason for loving and honoring rulers, that Almighty
God shows us this great grace and appoints rulers for us as
an outward sign of His will, so that we are sure we are
pleasing His divine will and doing right, whenever we do
the will and pleasure of the ruler. For He has fastened and
- ! )0tind His wil1 to them > when He sa y s > " Give to C^sar what
m. " * s Caesar's," and in Romans xiii, "Let everyone be subject
13:1 to the rulers."
Finally, soldiers have many superstitions in battle. One
commends himself to St. George, another to St. Christopher;
soldiers one to this saint, another to that. Some can conjure iron anH
bullets; some can bless horse and rider; some carry St.
John* Gospel, or some other object on which they rely. All
*Tlie German mercenary soldiers, who were found in most of the armies
i Jc/orope.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved 73
these are in perilous state, for they do not believe in God,
but rather sin through unbelief and false belief in God, and
if they were to die, they must needs be lost. This is what
they ought to do. When the battle begins and the exhorta-
tion, of which I spoke above, has been given, they should
commend themselves simply to God's grace and adopt a
Christian attitude. For the exhortation above is only a form
for doing the external work of war with a good conscience ;
but since no good work saves men, everyone should say
this exhortation, too, in his heart or with his lips, "Heav-
enly Father, here I am, according to Thy divine will, in the
external work and service of my lord, which I owe first to
Thee and then to my lord for Thy sake. I thank Thy grace
and mercy that Thou hast put me into a work of which I am
sure that it is not sin, but right and pleasing obedience to Thy
will. But because I know and have learned from Thy gra-
cious Word that none of our good works can help us and
no one is saved as a soldier but only as a Christian, there-
fore, I will rely not at all on this obedience and work of
mine, but put myself freely at the service of Thy will and
believe from the heart that only the innocent blood of Thy
dear Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, redeems and saves me, and
this He has shed for me in obedience to Thy holy will. On
this I stay ; on this I live and die ; on this I fight and do all.
Dear Lord God the Father, preserve and strengthen this
faith in me by Thy Spirit. Amen." If then you want to
say the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, you may do- so, and
let that be enough. Thus commit body and soul to His
hands, and draw sword, and smite in God's name.
If there were many such soldiers in an arnay, who, think
you, would do anything to them? They would devour the
world without lifting sword. Nay, if there were nine or ten
such in a company, or only three or four, who could say
these things with a true heart, I would prefer them to all
the guns, pikes, horses and armor, and I would let the Turk
come on, with all his power; for Christian faith is not a
jest, nor is it a little thing, but as Christ says in the Gospel, M
"It can do all things." But, my dear sir, where are those 9^23
74 Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved
who believe thus, and can do such things? Nevertheless,
although the crowd does not do this, we must teach it and
sa. know it for the sake of those who will do it, however few
ss-.n they raay be. For God's Word does not go out in vain,
says Isaiah, lo, it brings some to God. The others who de-
spise this wholesome teaching, given for their salvation, have
their Judge to whom they must make answer. We are
excused, and have done our part.
Here I shall let this rest for this time. I wanted to say
something about war against the Turk, because he had come
so dose to us, and some reproached me as though I had ad-
vised against war with the Turk. 1 I have long known that
at last I would have to become a Turk, and it does not help
me that I have written so plainly about this and have said,
especially in the book On Temporal Government,
that equal may well go to war with equal. But since the
Turk is back home again and our Germans are no longer
asking about this, it is not yet time to write about it. a
This instruction, my dear Assa, I should have completed
long ago; but it has been delayed so long that meanwhile,
by God's grace, you and I have become godfathers. 8 And
yet I hope that the delay has not been fruitless and that the
cause has been furthered by it. I commend you to God.
1 Among the statements condemned in the bull of excommunication (1520)
was one to this effect
= The time came in 1528. See On War Against the Turk, this
volume, p. 81 ff.
1 See Introduction, above, p. 31.
ON
WAR AGAINST THE TURK
1529
INTRODUCTION
On August 5, 1528, Luther wrote to Nicholas Haustnann, thanking
him for a Brattle that Hausmann had sent to little Hans. In that
letter he said, "I had determined to write something about the Turkish
war, but I hope it will be needless. "* In October of the same year
he went 2 to work at it; the Letter of Dedication bears the date, Octo-
ber 9th. 2 The publication was long delayed, however, as the printer
lost the whole first part of the work and it had to be rewritten. It
finally came from the press, April 23, 1529,
Its publication was timely. The Second Diet of Spires was then
in session and one of the most important questions ttat it had to dis-
cuss was that of ways and means for resisting the Turkish invasion
that was then threatening and that ultimately carried a Turkish army
up to the walls of Vienna in September, 1529. One of the most seri-
ous anxieties of Charles V and his brother, Ferdinand of Austria,,
was caused by the possibility that the Lutheran powers in Germany
might demand toleration for Lutheranism as the price for their mili-
tary support against the Turks.
From the 'beginning of his public career, Luther had spoken of the
Turks as the rod of Gcd's^ anger. He( looked upon their invasions
of Central Europe as a divine visitation upon th,e sins of rulers and
people. In the Resolutiones of the Ninety-five Theses* he
had declared that the leaders o<f the Church. wanted to go to war, not
against iniquity and sin, but against the rod of punishment that God
was sending. Im so doing they were fighting against God. This
statement was one of those condemned, in 1520, in the bull E x s u r g e
domine. Luther explained and defended it, in 1521,* and uses it
here as the point of departure for his discussion.*
In this tract Luther comes out clearly in favor of national defense
against Turkish aggression. A few months later, after the raising
of the siege of Vienna, he expressed himself even more strongly in
the Heerpredigt wider den Ttirken. 8
The fact is that Luther had never really objected to a war of
defense against the Turks. But he had objected to such a war in
alliance with and under the direction of the papacy. It must not be
a crusade. Warfare was not in any sense the business or the duty
of the Church, but of the State. Defense against the Turks devolves
upon the emperor, and upon no one else, not because he is a Chris-
tian or " defender of the faith, " but purely and simply because he is
emperor. On the other hand such a war can be undertaken with good
prospects of success, only in case it is undertaken humbly and in the
VI, 314; SMITH & JACOBS, Luther's Correspondence.,
' * See* below,
Weimar Ed., I. 535.
*Cf. in tfcis edition, Vol. Ill, p, 11 ff.
See below.
Weimar Ed. XXX a , 160 &.
(77)
78 Introduction
fear of God. The whole tract should be read in connection with that
on Soldiers, 1 and that On Temporal Government, 3 and
the Explanation of the Eighty-second Psalm. 8
The text is found in Weimar Ed., XXX 3 , 107 ff.; Erlangen
Ed, XXXI, 31 ff.; St. Louis Ed. XX, 2108 ff.; Berlin Ed.,
VII, 438 ff. The translation is from the Weimar text.
CHARLES M. JACOBS
MOUNT AIRY
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
1 Above, pp. 32 ff.
* Vol. Ill, pp. 228 ff.
Yd. IV, pp, 287 ff.
To the
Serene, highborn Prince and Lord,
Philip, Landgrave of Hesse.
Count of Katzenellenbogen,
Ziegenhain and Nidda,
My gracious lord.
Grace and peace in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
Serene, highborn Prince, gracious Lord.
Certain persons have been begging me for the past five Letter of
years to write about war against the Turks, and encourage D di -
our people and stir them up to it, and now that the Turk is cati<m
actually approaching, my friends are compelling me to do
this duty, especially since there are some stupid preachers
among us Germans (as I am sorry to hear) who are making
the^ people believe that we ought not and must not fight
against the Turks. Some are even so crazy as to say that it
is not proper for Christians to bear the temporal sword or to
be rulers; also because our German people are such a wild
and uncivilized folk that there are some who want the Turk
to come and rule. All the blame for this wicked error among
the people is laid on Luther and must be called "the fruit
of my Gospel," just as I must bear the blame for the rebel-
lion, 1 and for everything bad that happens anywhere in the
world. My accusers know better, but God and His Word
to the contrary, they pretend not to know better, and seek
occasion to speak evil of the Holy Ghost and of the truth
that is openly confessed, so that they may earn the reward of
hell and never receive repentance or the forgiveness of their
sins.
Therefore it is necessary for me to write of these things
for my own sake and the Gospel's sake and to enter our
defense; not because of the blasphemers, however. They are
not good enough to make it worth while to say a single word
*The Peasants' Revolt of 1525.
Vol. V--6. (79)
80 On War Against the Turk
of defense to them, for to them the Gospel must always be
a stench and a savor of death un/to death, as they have de-
served by their willful blasphemy. But I must write in order
that innocent consciences may not any longer be deceived by
these slandermongers, and made suspicious of me or my
doctrine, and may not be deceived into believing that we
must not fight against the Turks. I have thought best to pub-
lish this little book under the name of your Grace, who are a
famous and mighty prince, so that it may be the better re-
ceived and the more diligently read. Thus, if it came to a
discussion of a campaign against the Turks, the princes and
lords would readily recall it. I commend your Grace to our
merciful God's grace and favor, that He may keep your
Grace against all error and against the craft of the devil,
and illumine and strengthen your Grace for a blessed reign.
Your Grace's devoted
MARTIN LUTHER
WITTENBERG, OCTOBER 9, 1528
ON
WAR AGAINST THE TURK
1529
Pope Leo the Tenth, in the bull in which he put me under
the ban, condemned, among other statements, the following
one. I had said that "to fight against the Turk is the same views
thing as resisting God, who visits our sin upon us with this
rod." 1 From this article they may get it, who say that I
prevent and dissuade from war against the Turk. I still
confess freely that this article is mine and that I put it forth
and defended it at the time ; and if things in the world were
in the same state now that they were in then, I would still
have to put it forth and defend it. But it is not fair to for-
get how things then stood in the world, and what my grounds
and reasons were, and still keep my words and apply them
to another situation where those grounds and reasons do
not exist. With this kind of art, who could not make the
Gospel a pack of lies or pretend that it contradicted itself ?
This was the state of things at that time, no one had
taught, no one had heard, and no one knew anything about
temporal government, whence it came, what its office and
work was, or how it ought to serve God. The most learned
men (I shall not name them) held temporal government for
a heathen, human, ungodly thing, as though it were perilous
to salvation to be in the ranks of the rulers. Therefore, the
priests and monks had so driven kings and princes into the
corner, as to persuade them that, to serve God, they must
undertake other works, such as hearing mass, saying prayers,
endowing masses, etc. In a word, princes and lords who
wanted to be pious men held their rank and office as of no
value and did not consider it a service of God. They became
really priests and monks, except that they did not wear ton-
sures and cowls. If they would serve God, they must go to
*See Introduction above, and Vol. in, p. 7 t f 11 ff.
(81)
82 On War Against the Turk
church. All the lords then living would have to testify to
this, for they knew it by experience. My gracious lord, Duke
Frederick, of blessed memory, was so glad when I first
wrote On Temporal Government, 1 that he had
the little book copied out and put in a special binding, and
was happy that he could see what his position was before
God.
Thus the pope and the clergy were, at that time, all in all,
4:6 over all, and through all, like God in the world, and the
temporal rulers were in darkness, oppressed and unknown.
But the pope and his crowd wanted to be Christians, too,
and therefore pretended to make war on the Turk. Over
those two points the discussion arose, for I was then working
on doctrine that concerned Christians and the conscience, and
had as yet written nothing about the temporal rulers. The
papists, therefore, called me a flatterer of the princes, because
I was dealing only with the spiritual class/ and not with
the temporal ; just as they call me seditious, now that I have
written in such glorification of temporal government as no
teacher has done since the days of the apostles, except, per-
haps, St. Augustine. 3 Of this I can boast with a good con-
science and the testimony of the world will support me.
Among the points of Christian doctrine,- 1 discussed what
Christ says, in Matthew, viz., that a Christian shall not
resist evil, but endure all things, let the coat go and the cloak,
let them be taken from him, offer the 'other cheek, etc. Of
this the pope, with his universities and cloister-schools, had
made "an advice/* not a commandment, and not a rule
that a Christian must keep; thus they had perverted Christ's
word, spread false doctrine throughout the world, and de-
ceived Christians. Since, therefore, they wanted to be
Christians, nay, the best Christians in the world, and yet
fight against the Turk, endure no evil, and suffer neither
compulsion nor wrong, I opposed them with this saying of
Christ that Christians shall not resist evil, but suffer all
*In this edition, Vol. Ill, pp. 228 ff.
a i.e., The clergy.
Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved, above, p. 32.
4 An "evangelical counsel/* necessary for perfection, but not demanded. Cf
VoL III. pp. 229. 233.
On War Against the Turk 83
things and let all things go. Upon this I based the article
that Pope Leo condemned. He did it the more gladly because
I took the rogue's-cloak off the Roman knavery.
For the popes had never seriously intended to make war
on the Turk, but used the Turkish war as a conjurer's hat, The POP*
playing around in it, and robbing Germany of money by ^^
means of indulgences, whenever they took the notion. 1 All wL
the world knew it, but now it is forgotten. Thus they con-
demned my article not because it prevented the Turkish war,
but because it tore off this conjurer's hat and blocked the
path along which the money went to Rome. If they had
seriously wished to fight against the Turk, the pope and the
cardinals would have had enough from the pallia, 3 annates, 3
and other unmentionable sources of income, so that they
would not have needed to practice such extortion and rob-
bery in Germany. If there had been a general opinion that
a serious war was at hand, I could have dressed my article
up better and made some distinctions.
It did not please me, either, that the Christians and the
princes were driven, urged, and irritated into attacking the
Turk and making war on him, before they amended their
own ways and lived like true Christians. These two points,
or either separately, were enough reason to dissuade from
war. For I shall never advise a heathen or a Turk, let alone
a Christian, to attack another or begin war. That is nothing-
else than advising bloodshed and destruction, and it brings
no good fortune in the end, as I have written in the book
On Soldiers ; 4 and it never does any good when one
knave punishes another without first becoming good himself,
But what moved me most of all was this. They undertook Chris-
to fight against the Turk tinder the name of Christ, and *****
taught men and stirred them up to do this, as though our
people were an army of Christians against the Turks, who
were enemies of Christ ; and this is straight against Christ's
doctrine and name. It is against His doctrine, because He
says that Christians shall not resist evil, shall not fight or
1 Cf. Vol. II, pp. 84 f.
> Cf. Vol. II, p. 89. note 3.
Cf. Vol. II, p. 84, note,
pp. 32 f.
84 On War Against the Turk
quarrel, not take revenge or insist on rights. It is against
His name, because in such an army there are scarcely five
Christians, and perhaps worse people in the eyes of God than
are the Turks; and yet they would all bear the name of
Christ. This is the greatest of all sins and one that no Turk
commits, for Christ's name is used for sin and shame and
thus dishonored. This would be especially so if the pope and
the bishops were in the war, for they would put the greatest
shame and dishonor on Christ's name, since they are called
to fight against the devil with the Word of God and with
prayer, and would be deserting their calling and office and
fighting with the sword against flesh and blood. This they
are not commanded, but forbidden to do.
how gladly would Christ receive me at the Last Judg-
ment, if when summoned to the spiritual office, to preach
and care for souls, I had left it and busied myself with
fighting and with the temporal sword! And how should
Christ come to it that He or His have anything to do with
John the sword and go to war, and kill men's bodies, when He
3:17 glories in it that He has come to save the world, not to kill
people ? For His work is to deal with the Gospel and by His
V.is Spirit to redeem men from sin and death, nay, to help them
from this world to everlasting life. According to John vi,
John He fled and would not let Himself be made king: before
1 R *1t\
Pilate He confessed, "My kingdom is not of this world";
and He bade Peter, in the garden, put up his sword, and
26:52 said, "He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword."
1 say this not because I would teach that worldly rulers
ought not be Christians, or that a Christian cannot bear the
sword and serve God in temporal government. Would God
they were all Christians, or that no one could be a prince
unless he were a Christian! Things would be better than
they now are and the Turk would not be so powerful. But
what I would do is keep the callings an^ offices distinct and
apart, so that everyone can see io what he is called, and f ulr-
fill the duties of his office faithfully -and with the heart, in
the service of God, Of this I have written more than enough
On War Against the Turk 85
elsewhere, especially in the books On Soldiers 1 and
On Temporal Government. 3 For Paul will not Rom.
suffer it that in the Church, where all should be Christians, 12:4
one assume another's office (Romans xii and Corinthians i Co*,
xii), but exhorts every member to his own work, so that 12:15
no disorder arise, but everything be done in an orderly way. j
How much less, then, is the disorder to be tolerated that H:4o
arises when a Christian leaves his office and takes upon him
a temporal office, or when a bishop or pastor leaves his
office and takes upon him the office of a prince or judge ; or,
on the other hand, when a prince takes up the office of a
bishop and lets his princely office go? Even today this
shameful disorder rages and rules in the whole papacy, con-
trary to their own canons and laws.
Inquire of experience how well we have succeeded hitherto
with the Turkish war, though we have fought as Christians ;
until we have lost Rhodes 8 and almost all of Hungary and ;
much German land besides. And that we may perceive '
clearly that God is not with us in our war against the Turks,
He has never put so much courage or spirit into the minds
of our princes that they have been able even once to deal
seriously with the Turkish war. Though many of the diets,
almost all of them in fact, have been called and held on this
account,* the matter will neither be settled nor arranged, and
it seems as though God were mocking our diets and letting
the devil hinder them and get the better of them until the
Turk comes ravaging on at his leisure and ruins Germany
without trouble and without resistance. Why does this
happen ? Because my article, which Pope Leo condemned, re-
mains uncondemned and in full force. Because the papists
reject it, arbitrarily and without Scripture, the Turk must
take its part and prove it with the fist and with deeds. If we
will not learn out of the Scriptures, we must learn out of
the Turk's scabbard, until we find in our hurt that Christians
1 Above, pp, 32 ft.
>Vol. Ill, PP. 228 ff.
"Captured from the Hospitallers, December, 1522.
/The diets of Nuremberg (1523 and 1524) and vi Spir.es (1526 and 1529)
discussed the Turkish war at length, '
86 On War Against the Turk
are not to make war or resist evil. Fools must be chased
with clubs.
How many wars, think you, have there been against the
Turk in which we would not have received heavy losses, if
the bishops and clergy were there? How pitifully the fine
king Lassla, with his bishops was beaten by the Turk at
Defeat* Varna. 1 The Hungarians themselves blamed Cardinal Julian 3
and killed him for it. Recently King Ludwig 3 would per-
haps have fought with more success, if he had not led a
priests' army or, as they call it, a Christian army against
the Turks. If I were emperor, king, or prince in a cam-
paign against the Turk, I would exhort my bishops and
priests to stay at home and mind the duties of their office,
praying, fasting, saying mass, preaching, and caring for the
poor, as not only Holy Scripture, but their own canon law
teaches and requires. If, however, they were to be disobe-
dient to God and their own law and desire to go along to
war, I would teach them by force to attend to their office
and not, by their disobedience, put me and my army under
God's wrath and into danger. It would be less harmful to
have three devils in the army than one disobedient, apostate
bishop, who had forgotten his office and assumed that of an-
other. For there can be no good fortune with such people
around, who go against God and their own law.
I have heard of fine soldiers who have thought that the
king of France, when he was defeated and captured by the
emperor before Pavia, had all of his bad fortune because he
had the pope's, or as they boastfully call them, the Church's,
people with him. For after they came to his camp with a
great cry of Ecclesia, ecclesia ! "Church, Church !"
there was no more good fortune there. This is what the
soldiers say, though perhaps they do not know the reason
for it, viz., that is not right for the pope, who wants to be a
iWladislaw (Ladislas) III of Poland and Hungary, killed in the battle of
Varna, November 10, 1444.
a GiuIiano Casarini, papal legate in Hungary, who had preached the crusade.
He was present at the battle of Varna, and killed during the retreat after the
tattle.
* King Lewis It of Bohemia and Hungary was killed in the battle of Mohacs,
August 29, 1525.
On War Against the Turk 87
Christian, and the highest and best Christian preacher at
that, to lead a church army, or army of Christians. For the
Church ought not strive or fight with the sword ; it has other E P L
enemies than flesh and blood, their name is the wicked devils 6:12
in the air; therefore it has other weapons and swords and
other wars, so that it has enough to do, and cannot mix in
the wars of the emperor or princes, for the Scriptures say I ^5
that there shall be no good fortune where men are disobe-
dient to God.
Again, if I were a soldier and saw in the field a priests'
banner, or banner of the cross, even though it were a crucifix
I should run as though the devil were chasing me ; and even
if they won a victory, by God's decree, I should not take any
part in the booty or the rejoicing. Even the wicked iron-eater,
Pope Julius, 1 who was half devil, did not succeed, but had to
call at last on the Emperor Maximilian and let him take
charge of the game, despite the fact that Julius had more
money, arms, and people. I think, too, that this latest pope,
Clement, 3 whom people held almost a god of war, succeeded
well with his fighting until he lost Rome and all its wealth to
a few ill-armed soldiers. The conclusion is this : Christ will
teach them to understand my article, that Christians shall not
make war, and the condemned article must take its revenge,
for it is said of Christians and will be uncondemned and
right and true ; although they do not care and do not believe
it, but rush on more and more, hardened and unrepentant,
and go to destruction. To this I say Amen, Amen.
It is true, indeed, that since they have temporal lordship
and wealth, they ought to make out of it the same contribu-
tions to the emperor, kings, or princes that other holdings
properly make, and render the same services that others are
expected to render. Nay, these "goods of the Church/* as
they call them, ought above all others to serve and help in
the protection of the needy and the welfare of all classes, for
they are given for that purpose, not in order that a bishop
may forget his office and use them for war or battle. If the
1 Jtditi II (1503-13).
'Clement VII (1523-30). Rome was sacked by the army of Charles V, May
6* 1527. When Luther wrote, this the pope was the emperor's prisoner.
88 On War Against the Turk
banner of Emperor Charles or of a prince is in the field,
then let everyone run boldly and gladly to the banner to
which his allegiance is sworn ; but if the banner of a bishop,
cardinal, or pope is there, then run the other way, and say
"I do not know this coin ; if it were a prayer book, or the
Holy Scriptures preached in the Church, I would rally to it."
Now before I exhort or urge to war against the Turk,
hear me, for God's sake, while I first teach you how to fight
w fth a good conscience. For although, if I wanted to give
Turk way to the old Adam, I could keep quiet and look on while
the Turk revenged me upon the tyrants who persecute the
Gospel and subject me to all kinds of pain, and paid them
back for it, nevertheless, I shall not do this, but rather serve
both friends and enemies, so that my sun may rise on both
afcg, bad and good, and my rain fall on the thankful and un-
5:45 thankful.
In the first place, it is certain that the Turk has no right
or command to begin war and to attack lands that are not
his. Therefore, his war is nothing else than outrage and
robbery, with which God is punishing the world, as He often
does through wicked knaves, and sometimes through godly
people. For he does not fight from necessity or to protect
his land in peace, as the right kind of a ruler does, but like
a pirate or highwayman, he seeks to rob and damage other
lands, who are doing and have done nothing to him. He is
isa. io:5 God's rod and the devil's servant; there is no doubt about
that.
In the second place, it must be known that the man, who-
ever he is, who is going to make war against the Turk, must
be sure that he has a commission from God and is doing
right. He must not plunge in for the sake of revenge or
have some other mad notion or reason. He must be sure of
this, so that, win or lose, he may be in a state of salvation
and in a godly occupation. There are two of these men, and
there ought to be only two: the one is named Christian, the
Th other Emperor Charles.
Christian should be first, with his army. For since the
Turk is the rod of the wrath of the Lord our God and the
On War Against the Turk 89
servant of the raging devil, the first thing to be done is to
smite the devil, his lord, and take the rod out of God's hand,
so that the Turk may be found in his own strength only, all
by himself, without the devil's help and without God's hand.
This should be done by Sir Christian, that is, the pious, holy,
dear body of Christians. They are the people who have the
arms for this war and know what to do with them. If the
Turk's god, the devil, is not first beaten, there is reason to
fear that the Turk will not be so easy to beat. Now the
devil is a spirit, who cannot be beaten with armor, guns,
horses, and men, and God's wrath cannot be allayed by
them, as it is written in Psalm xxxiii, "The Lord hath no
pleasure in the strength of the horse, neither delighteth he in * 33:17
any man's legs; the Lord delighteth in them that fear him *i47:io
and wait for his goodness." Christian weapons and power
must do it.
Here you ask, "Who are the Christians and where does
one find them?" Answer: They are not many, but they are
everywhere, though they are spread out thin and live far
apart, under good and bad princes. Christendom must con-
tinue to the end, as the article of the Creed says, "I believe
one holy Christian Church." But if that is true, it must be
possible to find them. Every pastor and preacher ought to
exhort his people most diligently to repentance and to, prayer.
They ought to drive men to repentance by showing our great
and numberless sins and our ingratitude, by which we have
earned God's wrath and disfavor, so that He justly gives us
into the hands of the devil and the Turk. That this preach-
ing may work the more strongly, they ought to cite examples
and sayings out of the Scriptures, such as the Flood, Sodom
and Gomorrah, and the children of Israel, and show how
cruelly and how often God punished the world, and its lands
and peoples ; and they ought to make it plain that it is no
wonder, since we sin more heavily than they did, if we are
punished worse than they.
Verily, this fight must be begun with repentance, and we Men
must reform our lives, or we shall fight in vain; as the Mnrt
prophet Jeremiah says in the xviii chapter,, "I will speak at B ^"* 18 .
one time against a kingdom to pluck it up, destroy it, and *j s. *
90 On War Against the Turk
scatter it ; but if that people against which I speak repent, I
will repent me of the evil that I thought to do it ; again I
speak of a kingdom and people to plant and build it, but
if it do evil in my sight, and hear not my voice, I will repent
me of the good that I had said I would do it. Therefore,
speak to them of Judah and them of Jerusalem, and say,
Behold I prepare a calamity for you and think evil against
you ; let each of you, then, turn from his evil way and make
your deeds good." This saying we may apply to ourselves as
though it had been spoken to us, for God devises an evil
against us because of our wickedness and certainly prepares
PS. 7: the Turk against us, as He says also in Psalm vii, "If a man
i2ff. turn not, he hath whetted his sword and stretched his bow,
and aimed it, and laid a deadly bolt in it."
Along with these must be cited the words and illustrations
of Scripture in which God makes it known how well He is
pleased with true repentance or amendment, made in faith
and reliance on His Word, such as, in the Old Testament
the examples of Kings David, Ahab, Mannasseh, and the
like ,* in the New Testament of St. Peter, the malefactor, the
publican in the Gospel, and so forth. Although I know that
to the scholars and saints, who need no repentance, this
advice of mine will be laughable and that they hold it for a
simple and common thing which they have long since got
beyond; nevertheless, I have not been willing to omit for the
sake of myself and sinners like myself, who need both re-
pentance and exhortation to repentance "every day. In spite
of it, we remain all too lazy and lax, and have not, with those
Lt>ke "ninety and nine just persons," got so far over the hill as they
15:7 permit themselves to think they have.
They After people have been thus taught and exhorted to con-
Must fess their sin and amend their ways, they should then be
Pray exhorted with the utmost diligence to prayer, and shown how
such prayer pleases God, how He has commanded it and
promised to hear it, and that no one ought to think lightly
of his own praying, or have doubts about it, but be sure,
with firm faith, that it will be heard ; all of which has been
published by us in many tracts. For the man who doubts, or
prays at a venture, would do better to let it alone, because
On War Against the Turk 91
such prayer is merely a tempting of God and only makes
things worse. Therefore, I would advise against proces-
sions, 1 which are a heathenish and useless practice, for they
are pomp and show rather than prayer. It might, indeed, be
of some use to have the people, especially the young people,
sing the Litany at mass or vespers or in the church after the
sermon, provided that everyone, at home, by himself, con-
constantly raised to Christ at least a sigh of the heart for
grace to lead a better life and for help against the Turk. I
am not speaking of much long praying, but of frequent brief
sighs, in one or two words, such as "O help us, dear God
the Father; have mercy on us, dear Lord Jesus Christ I"
or the like.
Lo, this kind of preaching will strike the Christians and
find them out, and there will be Christians who will accept
it and act according to it ; it matters not if you do not know
who they are. The tyrants and bishops may also be exhorted
to desist from their raging and persecution against the Word
of God and not to hinder our prayer; but if they do not
desist, we must not cease to pray, but keep on, and take the
chance that they will have the benefit of our prayer and be
preserved along with us, or that we shall pay for their rag-
ing and be ruined along with them. They are so perverse
and blind that if God gave good fortune against the Turk,
they would ascribe it to their holiness and merit and boast
of it against us. On the other hand, if things turned out
badly, they would ascribe it to no one but us, and lay the
blame on us, disregarding the shameful, openly sinful, and
wicked life, which they not only lead, but defend; for they
cannot teach rightly a single point about the way to pray,
and they ate worse than the Turks. 3 Ah, well We must
leave that to God's judgment!
In this exhortation to prayer, also, we must introduce
sayings and examples from the Scriptures, in which it is
shown how strong and mighty a man's prayer has sometimes
been; for example, Elijah's prayer, which St. James praises; Jas. 5:17
l The ceremonial processions were regarded as. especially solemn forms of
prayer. See Cath. En eye., XII, 446 ff.
a Cf . Vol. II, p. 82.
92 On War Against the Turk
I Kings the prayers of Elisha and other prophets; of Kings David,
17:1 Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jesis, 1 Hezekiah, etc.; the story
God promised Abraham that He would spare the
land of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of five righteous
jas. 5:i6 men . . or ^ e p rave r of righteous men can do much if it be
persistent, says St. James in his Epistle. They are to be
informed, besides, that they shall be careful not to anger God
by not praying, and not to fall under His judgment, in
Ezek. Ezekiel xiii, where God says, "Ye have not set yourselves
against me, and opposed yourselves as a wall before the
house of Israel, to stand against the battle in the day of the
Ezek. Lord" ; and in xxii, "I sought a man among them who would
23:30f "be a wall, and stand against me for the land, that I should
not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I poured my
wrath upon them and consumed them with the fire of my
anger and paid them as they deserved, saith the Lord/'
From this it is easy to see that God would have men set
themselves in the way of his wrath and keep it off, and that
He is greatly angered if this is not done. That is what I
meant when I spoke above 3 about taking the rod out of God's
hands. Let him fast who will. Let him go down on his knees
and bow and fall to the ground, if he is in earnest ; for the
bowing and kneeling that has been practiced hitherto in the
chapters and monasteries was not in earnest ; it was, and still
is, mere apery. It is not for nothing that I exhort pastors and
preachers to impress this upon the people, for I see plainly
that it rests entirely with the preachers whether the people
shall amend their ways and pray, or not. Little will be
accomplished by preaching in which men call Luther names
and blaspheme, and let repentance and prayer alone; but
where God's Word is spoken, it is not without fruit. They,
however, must preach as though they were preaching to
saints who had learned all that there was to know about re-
pentance and faith, and therefore had to talk about some-
thing higher.
We should have been moved to this prayer against the
Turk by the great need of our time, for the Turk, as has
1 Perhaps Josiah or Joash.
a Cf. above, p. 89.
On War Against the Turk 93
been said, is the servant of the devil, who not only ruins ^
land and people with the sword, as we shall hear later, but Turk
also lays waste the Christian Faith and our dear Lord Jesus
Christ. For although some praise his government because
he allows everyone to believe what he will so long as he
remains the temporal lord, yet this praise is not true, for he
does not allow Christians to come together in public, and no
one can openly confess Christ or preach or teach against
Mohammed. What kind of freedom of belief is it when no
one is allowed to preach or confess Christ, and yet our Rom -
salvation depends on that confession as Paul says, "To con- 10:9
f ess with the lips saves," and Christ has strictly commanded Matt -
to confess and teach His Gospel. 10:32
Since, therefore, faith must be kept quiet and held secret
among this barbarous and wild people and under this severe
rule, how can it at last exist or remain, when there is need
for so much trouble and labor, in places where it is preached
most faithfully and diligently? Therefore, it happens, and
must happen, that those Christians who are captured or
otherwise get into Turkey fall away and become altogether
Turkish, and it is very seldom that one remains true to his
faith, for they lack the living bread of souls and see the
free and fleshly life of the Turks and are obliged to adapt
themselves to it.
How can one injure Christ more than with these two
things ; namely, force and wiles ? With force, they prevent
preaching and suppress the Word. With wiles, they daily
put wicked and dangerous examples before men's eyes and
draw men to them. If we then would not lose our Lord
Jesus Christ, His Word and faith, we must pray against
the Turks as against other enemies of our salvation and of
all good. Nay, as we pray against the devil himself.
In this connection, the people should be told of all the
dissolute Iffe and ways that the Turk practices, so. that they
may the better feel the need of prayer. To be sure, it has _
often disgusted me and still does, that neither our great wicked
lords nor our scholars have been at any pains to give us "^^
any certain knowledge about the life of the Turks in the two Turk
94 On War Against the Turk
classes, spiritual and temporal ; and yet he has come so near
to us. For it is said that they too have chapters and monas-
teries. Some indeed have invented outrageous lies about
the Turks in order to stir up us Germans against them, but
there is no need for lies ; the truth is all too great. I will
tell my dear Christians a few things, so far as I know the
real truth, so that they may the better be moved and stirred
tip to pray earnestly against the enemy of Christ our Lord.
I have some pieces of Mohammed's Koran which might
be called in German a book of sermons or doctrines of the
kind that we call pope's decretals. When I have time, I must
put it into German so that every man may see what a foul
and shameful book it is. 1
In the first place, he praises Christ and Mary very much
as those who alone were without sin, and yet he believes
nothing more of Christ than that he is a holy prophet, like
Jeremiah or Jonah, and denies that he is God's Son and
true God. Besides, he does not believe that Christ is the
Saviour of the world, Who died for our sins, but that He
preached to His own time, and completed His work before
His death, just like any other prophet.
On the other hand, he praises and exalts himself highly
and boasts that he has talked with God and the angels, and
that since Christ's office of prophet is now complete, it has
been commanded to him to bring the world to his faith and
if the world is not willing, to compel it or punish it with the
sword; and there is much glorification of the sword in it.
Therefore, the Turks think their Mohammed much higher
and greater than Christ, for the office of Christ has ended
and Mohammed's office is still in force.
From this anyone can easily observe that Mohammed is a
destroyer of our Lord Christ and His kingdom, and if any-
one denies concerning Christ, that He is God's Son and has
died for us, and still lives and reigns at the right hand of
God, what has he left of Christ? Father, Son, Holy Ghost,
Baptism, the Sacrament, Gospel, Faith and all Christian doc-
trine and life are gone, and there is left, instead of Christ,
1 TTiis purpose was not fulfilled, partly because of Luther's difficulty in
securing a Latin text. See B e r 1 i n E d . , vii, 456, n. 1.
On War Against the Turk 95
nothing more than Mohammed with his doctrine of works
and especially of the sword. That is the chief doctrine of
the Turkish faith in which all abominations, all errors, all
devils are piled tip in one heap.
And yet, the world acts as though it were snowing pupils
of the Turkish faith, for it pleases the reason extraordinarily
well that Christ should not be God, as the Jews also believe,
and especially is Reason pleased with the thought that men
are to rule and bear the sword and get up in the world ; then
the devil pushes it along. Thus a faith is patched together
out of the faith of Jews, Christians and heathen. He gets it
from the Christians when he praises Christ and Mary and
the apostles and other saints. He gets it from the Jews that
people are not to drink wine, are to fast the certain times of
the year, wash like the Nazarites, and eat off the ground,
and go on with such holy works as part of our monks do
and hope for everlasting life at the Judgment Day, for, holy
people that they are, they believe in the resurrection of the
dead, though few of the papists believe in it.
'What pious Christian heart would not be horrified at
this enemy of Christ, since we see that the Turk allows no
article of our faith to stand, except the single one about the
resurrection of the dead? Then Christ is no redeemer,
saviour, or king ; there is no forgiveness of sins, no grace, no
Holy Ghost. Why should I say much? In the article that
Christ is to be beneath Mohammed, and less than he, every-
thing is destroyed. Who would not rather be dead than live
under such a government, where he must say nothing about
his Christ, and hear and see such blasphemy and abomination
against Him? Yet it takes such a powerful hold, when it
wins a land, that people even submit to it willingly. There-
fore, let everyone pray who can pray that this abomination
may not become lord over us and that we may not be pun-
ished with this terrible rod of God's anger.
In the second place, the Turk's Koran, or creed, teaches
him to destroy not only the Christian faith, but also the an
whole temporal government. His Mohammed, as has been
said, commands that ruling is to be done by the sword, and eminent
Vol. V7.
96 On War Against the Turk
in his Koran the sword is the commonest and noblest work.
Thus the Turk is, in truth, nothing but a murderer or high-
wayman, as his deeds show before men's eyes. St. Augus-
PS. 76:4 tine 1 calls other kingdoms, too, great robbery; Psalm Ixxvi
also calls them "fastnesses of robbers," 2 because it is but
seldom that an empire has come up except by robbery, force,
and wrong ; or at the very least, it is often seized and pos-
sessed by wicked people without any justice, so that the
G To-9 Scriptures, in Genesis x, call the first prince upon earth,
Nimrod, a mighty hunter. But never has any kingdom come
up and become so mighty by murder and robbery as that of
the Turk; and he murders and robs every day, for it is
commanded in their law, as a good and divine work, that
they shall rob and murder, devour and destroy more and
more those that are round about them; and they do this,
and think that they are doing God service. Their govern-
ment, therefore, is not a regular rulership, like others, for
the maintenance of peace, the protection of the good, and the
punishment of the wicked, but a rod of anger and a punish-
ment of God upon the unbelieving world, as has been said.
The work of murdering and robbing pleases the flesh in any
case, because it enables men to gain high place and subject
everyone's life and goods to themselves; how much more
must the flesh be pleased when this is a commandment, as
though God would have it so and it pleased Him well!
Therefore among the Turks, too, they are held the best who
are diligent to increase the Turkish kingdom and who are
constantly murdering and robbing round about them.
John ^is second thing must follow out of the first ; 8 for Christ
8:44 says, in John viii, that the devil is a liar and murderer. With
lies he kills souls, with murder bodies. If he wins with a
lie, he does not take a holiday and make delay, but follows it
up with murder. Thus when the spirit of lies had taken pos-
session of Mohammed and the devil had murdered men's
souls with his Koran and had destroyed the faith of Chris-
1 Decivitate del IV, 4, 6.
a Raubeberge, "mountains of prey" (Engl. R. V.)
8 Lc., The murdering and robbing out of the false doctrine.
On War Against the Turk 97
tians, he had to go on and take the sword and attempt the
murder of their bodies. The Turkish faith, then, has not made
its progress by preaching and the working of miracles, but
by the sword and by murder, and its success has been due
to God's wrath, which ordered that, since all the world has a
desire for the sword and robbery and murder, one should
come who would give it enough of murder and robbery.
All fanatics, as a rule, when the spirit of lies has taken Lies and
possession of them and led them away from the true faith, Murdw
have been unable to stop there, but have followed the lie
with murder and taken up the sword, as a sign that they
were children of the father of all lies and murder. Thus we
read how the Arians became murderers and one of the great-
est bishops of Alexandria, Lucius 1 by name, drove the ortho-
dox out of the city, and went into the ship and held a naked
sword in his own hand until the orthodox were all on board
and had to go away ; and these tender, holy bishops commit-
ted many other murders even at that time, which is almost
twelve hundred years ago. Again, in the time of St. Augus-
tine, which is almost eleven hundred years ago, the holy
father shows, in his books, how many murders were com-
mitted by the Donatists. 3 In such an utterly worldly way
did the clergy conduct themselves ! They had only the name
and guise of bishops among the Christians ; but because they
had fallen away from the truth and become subject to the
spirit of lies, they had to go f orward in his service and become
wolves and murderers. Even in our own times, what was
Muenzer seeking, except to become a new Turkish emperor?
He was possessed of the spirit of lies and therefore there
was no holding him back ; he had to go at the other work of
the devil, take the sword and murder and rob, as the spirit of
murder drove him, and he created such a rebellion and such
misery.
And what shall I say of the most holy Father, the pope?
*In 374, the Arian bishop, Lucius, drove the orthodox bishop, Peter, out of
Alexandria. R e a 1 e n c y fc II, 42; Bright, Ageof the Fathers, I, 377.
a Cf . Augustine, Contra Gandentitum, I, c. 22 (M i g n e xliii,
720 f,) See Bright, Age of the Fathers II, 117.
98 . On War Against the Turk
Is it not true that he and his bishops have- become worldly
lords, have fallen away from the Gospel, led by the spirit of
lies, and embraced their own human doctrine, and thus have
practiced murder, down to the present hour ? Read the his-
tories of the time and you find that the principal business of
popes and bishops has been to set emperors, kings, princes,
lands, and people against one another, even themselves to
fight and help in the work of murder and bloodshed. Why
so? Because the spirit of lies never acts any other way.
After he has made his disciples teachers of lies and deceivers,
he has no rest until he makes them murderers, robbers, and
blood-dogs. For who has ordered them to bear the sword,
to make war, and to urge men on and stir them up to mur-
der and war, when their duty was to attend to preaching
and prayer?
They call me and mine seditious, but when have I ever
coveted the sword or urged men to take it, and not rather
taught and kept peace and obedience, except that I have
instructed and exhorted the regular temporal rulers to do
Matt their duty and maintain peace and justice ? By its fruits one
7:16 shall know the tree. I and mine keep and teach peace ; the
pope, with his followers, makes war, murders, robs, and that
not only his enemies; "but he bums, condemns, and perse-
cutes the innocent, the pious, the orthodox, as a true Anti-
christ. For he does this, "sitting in the temple of God," as
II Thess. h^ O f the Church ; and that the Turk does not do. But as
2*4
the pope is Antichrist, so the Turk is the very devil. The
prayer of Christendom is against both. Both shall go down
to hell, even though it may take the Last Day to send them
there; and I hope it will not be long.
Summing up what has been said : Where the spirit of lies
is, there is also the spirit of murder, though he may not get
to work or may be hindered. If he is hindered, he still
laughs and is jubilant when murder is done, and at least
consents to it, for he holds it right. But good Christians
do not rejoice over any murder, not even over the misfor-
tunes of their enemies. Since, then, Mohammed's Koran is
On War Against the Turk 99
such a great spirit of lies that it leaves almost nothing of
Christian truth remaining, how could it have any other result
than that it should become a great and mighty murderer,
with both lies and murders under the show of truth and
righteousness. As, therefore, lies destroy the spiritual order
of faith and truth, so murder destroys all temporal order in-
stituted by God ; for where murder and robbery are practiced,
it is impossible that there should be a fine, praiseworthy tem-
poral government, since they cannot think more highly of
peace than of war and murder, or attend to the pursuits of
peace, as one can see in soldiers. Therefore, the Turks do
not regard the work of agriculture highly.
The third point is that Mohammed's Koran thinks noth-
ing of marriage, but permits everyone to take wives as he ^
will. Therefore, it is customary among the Turks for one Turk
man to have ten or twenty wives and to desert or sell any
of them that he will, when he will, so that in Turkey women
are held immeasurably cheap and are despised ; they are
bought and sold like cattle. Although there may be some
few who do not take advantage of this law, nevertheless this
is the law and anyone can follow if he will. Such a way of
living is not marriage and cannot be marriage v because none
of them takes a wife or has a wife with the intention of
staying with her forever, as though the two were one body, Gen
as God's Word says, in Genesis iii, "The man shall cleave to T-24
his wife and they two be one body." Thus the marriage of
the Turks closely resembles the chaste life that the soldiers
live with their harlots ; for the Turks are soldiers and must
act like soldiers ; Mars and Venus, say the poets, 1 must te
together.
These three points I have wanted to mention. I am sure
of them from the Koran of the Turks. What I have heard
beside I will not bring forward, because I cannot be sure
about it. Suppose, then, that there are some Christians
among the Turks; suppose that some of them are monks;
suppose that some are honorable laymen; even then, what
a Ovid, Triat. 2, 25; Weimar Ed., XXX*, p. 127, n. 1
100 On War Against the Turk
good can there be in the government and the whole Turkish
way of life, when according to their Koran these three things
rule among them; namely, lying, murder, and disregard of
marriage, and besides, every one must keep Christian truth
quiet and dare not rebuke or try to reform these three points,
but must look on and consent to them, as I fear, at least so
far as to be silent? How can there be a more horrible, dan-
gerous, terrible imprisonment than a life under such a gov-
ernment? Lies destroy the spiritual estate, murder the tem-
poral, disregard of marriage the estate of matrimony. Now
take out of the world veram religionem, veram
politiam, veram oeconomiam, i.e., true spiritual
life, true temporal government, and true conduct of the
home ; what is left in the world, but flesh, world and devil ?
A life there is like the life of the "good fellows" who keep
house with harlots.
It is said, indeed, that the Turks are, among themselves,
faithful and friendly and careful to tell the truth. I believe
that, and I think that they probably have more fine virtues
in them than that. No man is so bad that there is not some-
thing good in him. Now and then a woman of the streets
has good qualities that scarcely ten honorable matrons have.
So the devil would have a cloak and be a fair angel, an angel
of light; therefore he hides behind certain works, that are
works of the light. Murderers and robbers are more faith-
ful and friendly to each other than neighbors are, nay, more
so than many Christians. For if the devil keeps the three
things lies, murder, and disregard of marriage as the real
foundation of hell, he can easily tolerate, nay, help, that
fleshly love and faithfulness shall be built upon it, as precious
stones (though they are nothing but hay and straw), though
he knows well that nothing of them will remain through the
fire. 1 On the other hand, where true faith, true government,
true marriage are, he tries earnestly that little love and fidel-
ity may appear and little be shown, so that he can put the
foundation to shame and have it despised.
*With this passage compare I Cor. 3: 11-15.
On War Against the Turk 101
What is more, when the Turks go into battle their war-
cry is no other word than "Allah! Allah!" and they shout it
till heaven and earth resound. But in the Arabic language
Allah means God, and is a corruption of the Hebrew
E 1 o h a . For they have taught in the Koran that they shall
boast constantly with these words, "There is no God but
God." All that is really a device of the devil. For what is
it to say, "There is no God but God" without distinguishing
one God from another? The devil, too, is a god and they
honor him with this word; of that there is no doubt. In
just the same way the pope's soldiers cry "Ecclesia !
Ecclesia !" To be sure: the devil's ecclesia ! There-
fore I believe that the Turks' Allah does more in war
than they themselves. He gives them courage and wiles,
guides sword and fist, horse and man. What do you think,
then, of the holy people who can call upon God in battle, and
yet destroy Christ and all God's words and works, as you
have heard?
It is part of the Turks' holiness, also, that they tolerate
no images or pictures and are even holier than our destroyers
of images. For our destroyers tolerate, and are glad to have,
images on gulden, groschen, rings, and ornaments ;
but the Turk tolerates none of them and stamps nothing but
letters on his coins. He is entirely Muenzerian, too, for he
overthrows all rulers and tolerates no gradations of govern-
ment, such as princes, counts, lords, nobles and other feuda-
tories ; but he alone is lord over all in his own land, and
what he gives out is only pay, never property or rights of
rulership. He is also a papist; for he believes that he will
become holy and be saved by works, and thinks it no sin to
overthrow Christ, lay government waste, and destroy mar-
riage. All these things the pope also works at, though in
other ways, with hypocrisy, while the Turk uses force and
the sword. In a word, as has been said, it is the very dregs
of all abominations and errors.
All this I have wanted to tell to the first man, 1 namely,
1 Cf. p. 88.
102 On War Against the Turk
the community of Christians, so that he may know and see
how much need there is for prayer, and how we must first
smite the Turk's Allah, that is, his god, the devil, and
strike down his power and godhead; otherwise, I fear, the
sword will accomplish little. For this man is not to fight in
a bodily way with the Turk, as the pope and his followers
teach, nor resist him with the fist, but recognize the Turk as
God's rod and anger, which Christians must either suffer, if
God visits their sins upon them, or fight against and drive
away with repentance, tears, and prayer. He who despises
this counsel, let him despise it; I want to see what damage
he will do the Turk,
The second man whose place it i& to fight against the Turk
is Emperor Charles, or whoever is emperor; for the Turk
n.Th6 attacks his subjects and his empire, and it is his duty, as a
Empor regular ruler appointed by God, to defend his own. I repeat
it here, that I would not urge anyone or tell anyone to fight
against the Turk unless the first method, mentioned above,
had been followed, and men had first repented and been
reconciled to God, etc. If anyone will go to war besides, let
him take his risk. It is not proper for me to say anything
more about it beyond telling everyone his duty and instruct-
ing his conscience.
I see clearly that kings and princes are taking such a silly
and careless attitude toward the Turk that I fear they are
despising God and the Turk too greatly, or do not know,
perhaps, that the Turk is such a mighty lord that no king-
dom or land, whatever it is, is strong enough to resist him
alone, unless God will do a miracle. 1 Now I cannot expect
any miracle or special grace of God for Germany, unless
men amend their ways and honor the Word of God differ-
ently than has hitherto been done.
But enough has been said about that for those who will
listen. We would now speak of the emperor.
In the first place, if there is to be war against the Turk,
*In the raising c_
a, miracle. See D e W e tt e III, 518.
On War Against the Turk 103
it should be fought at the emperor's command, under his
banner, and in his name. Then everyone can assure his own
conscience that he is obeying the ordinance o God, since we
know that the emperor is our true overlord and head, and he mand
who obeys him, in such a case, obeys God also, while he who
disobeys him disobeys God also. If he dies in this obedience,
he dies in a good state, and if he has previously repented and
believes on Christ, he is saved. These things, I suppose,
everyone knows better than I can teach him, and would to
God they knew them as well as they think they do. Yet we
will say something more about them.
In the second place, this banner and obedience of the
emperor ought to be true and simple. The emperor should
seek nothing else than simply to perform the work and duty of ma
of his office, which is to protect his subjects ; and those under s*^* 8
his banner should seek simply the work and duty of obedi-
ence. By this simplicity you should understand that there is
to be no fighting of the Turk for the reasons for which the
emperors and princes have heretofore been urged to war,
such as the winning of great honor, glory, and wealth, the
increasing of lands, or wrath and revengefulness and other
things of the kind ; for by these things men seek only their
own self-interest, and therefore we have had no good for-
tune heretofore, either in fighting or planning to fight against
the Turk.
Therefore the urging and inciting, with which the emperor
and the princes have heretofore been stirred up to fight
against the Turk, ought to cease. He has been urged, as
head of Christendom, as protector of the Church and de-
fender of the faith, to wipe out the faith of the Turk, and
the urging and exhorting have been based on the wickedness
and vice of the Turks. Not so ! The emperor is not head
of Christendom or protector of the Gospel or of the faith.
The Church and the faith must have another protector than
emperor and kings. They are usually the worst enemies of
Christendom and of the faith, as Psalm ii says and the Ps - 2:2
Church constantly laments. With that kind of urging and
104 On War Against the Turk
exhorting things are only made worse and God is the more
deeply angered, because that interferes with His honor and
His work, and would ascribe it to men, which is idolatry
and blasphemy.
And if the emperor were to destroy the unbelievers and
non-Christians, he would have to begin with the pope, bish-
ops, and clergy and perhaps not spare us, or himself; for
there is enough horrible idolatry in his own empire to make
it unnecessary for him to fight the Turks for this cause.
Among us there are Turks, Jews, heathen, non-Christians,
all too many of them, proving it with public false doctrine
and with offensive, shameful lives. Let the Turk believe
and live as he will, just as one lets the papacy and other false
Christians live. The emperor's sword has nothing to do
with the faith ; it belongs to physical, worldly things, if God
is not to become angry with us. If we pervert His order
and throw it into confusion, He, too, becomes perverse and
throws us into confusion and all misfortune, as it is written,
Pa. 18:26 "With the perverse thou art perverse." We can perceive and
grasp this by means of the fortune we have heretofore had
against the Turk. Think of all the heartbreak and misery
that have been caused by the c r u c i a t a, 1 by the indulgences
and crusading-taxes, with which Christians have been stirred
up to take the sword and fight the Turk, when they ought to
have been fighting the devil and unbelief with the Word and
with prayer.
This is what should be done. The emperor and the princes
should be exhorted concerning their office and their bounden
duty to give serious and constant thought to governing their
subjects in peace and to protecting them against the Turk.
This would be their duty whether they themselves were
Christians or not, though it would be very good if they were
Christians. But since it is uncertain, and remains so, that
they are Christians, and it is certain that they are emperors
and princes, that is, that they have God's command to pro-
tect their subjects and are in duty bound to do so, therefore
*The preaching of crusades.
On War Against the Turk 105
we must let the uncertain go and hold to the certain, urge
them with continual preaching and exhortation, and lay it
heavily upon their consciences, that it is their duty to God
not to let their subjects be so pitiably ruined, and that they
are doing a great and notable sin when they do not think of
their office and use all their power to bring counsel and help
to those who should live, with body and goods, under their
protection and who are bound to them with oaths of homage.
For I think (so far as I have yet observed the matter in
our diets) that neither emperor nor princes believe them-
selves that they are emperor and princes. For they act as
though it lay with their own judgment and pleasure whether
they would rescue and protect their subjects from the power
of the Turk or not; and the princes neither care nor think
that they are bound and obligated before God to counsel and
help the emperor in this matter with body and goods. Every-
one of them lets it go as though it were no affair of his and
as though he were forced neither by command or necessity,
but it were left to his own free choice to do it or leave it.
They are just like the common people who do not think it
their duty to God and the world, when they have bright sons,
to put them to school and have them study; but everyone
thinks he has free power to raise his son as he pleases, no
matter what God's word and ordinance are. Nay, the coun-
cilmen in the cities and almost all the rulers act in the same
way, and let the schools go to nothing, as though they had no
responsibility for tfiem, and had an indulgence besides. No
one remembers that God earnestly commands, and will have
it so, that bright children shall be raised to His praise and for
His work, which cannot be done without the schools. On the
contrary everyone is in a hurry to have his children making
a living, as though God and Christendom needed no pastors,
preachers, carers for souls, and the worldly rulers no chan-
celors, counselors, or secretaries. But of this another time. 1
The pen must remain empress, or God will show us some-
thing else.
See On Keeping Children in School, Vol. IV, p. 135 ff.
106 On War Against the Turk
Emperor, kings, and princes act the same way. They do
not consider that God's commandment makes it necessary
to protect their subjects ; it is to lie in their own free choice
to do it, if the notion sometime takes them, or they have
leisure for it. Dear fellow, let us all do that I Let none
of us look to that which is commanded him and which God
orders him to do, but let all our actions and duties be matters
of our own free will, and God will give us good fortune and
His grace, and we shall be plagued by the Turk here in time,
and by the devil yonder in eternity.
The, Perhaps, then, a worthless prattler, I should say a legate,
POP , w iii come from Rome and exhort the estates of the empire
B^out anc ^ st * r them up against the Turk, telling them how the
of it enemy of the Christian faith has done such great harm to
Christendom and that the emperor, as guardian of the Church
and defender of the faith, should do so and so; as though
they themselves were great friends of the Christian faith!
But I say to him : You are a base-born knave, you impotent
chatterer! For this way you accomplish nothing except to
make the emperor feel that he should do a good Christian
work that he is not commanded to do; and that rests with
his free choice; his conscience is not touched at all by that,
and he is not reminded of the necessary duty, laid upon him
by God, but the whole thing is referred to his free will.
This is the way that a legate ought to deal with the estates
of the empire at the diet. He should hold God's command-
ment before them and make of it an unavoidable necessity,
and say: "Dear lords, emperor, and princes, if you would be
emperor and princes, act as emperor and princes, or the Turk
will teach you with God's wrath and disfavor. Germany, or
the empire, is given you and committed to you by God, that
you may protect, rule, counsel, and help it, and you not only
should, but must do this on pain of losing your soul's salva-
tion and God's favor and grace. But now it is evident that
none of you takes this seriously, or believes it, but you take
your office as a jest, as though it were a mummery of the
carnival, for you leave the subjects, whom God has commit-
On War Against the Turk 107
ted to you, to be so wretchedly harassed, taken captive, put
to shame, plundered, slain, and sold by the Turk. Do you
not think, since God has committed this office to you, and has
given you money and people besides for you to do good to
them, that He will demand at your hands all the subjects
whom you so shamefully deserted, while you danced, revelled,
showed off, and gambled? If you seriously believed that
you were appointed and ordained of God to be emperor and
princes, you would leave your banqueting and rivalry for
high places and other unprofitable display for a while, and
consult faithfully how you might discharge your office and
fulfil God's commandment and rescue your consciences from
all the blood and the misery which the Turk inflicts upon
them. For how can God, or any godly heart think otherwise
of you than that you hate your subjects or have a secret
covenant with the Turk or, at least, hold yourselves for
neither emperor nor princes, but for dolls and puppets for
children to play with? Otherwise, it would be impossible
that your consciences should let you rest, if you seriously
held yourselves for overlords appointed by God, and were
not to speak and advise together about these matters differ-
ently than you have done heretofore. In this you see that
you are constantly becoming Turks to your own subjects.
"Nay, you even take up the case of Luther and discuss, in
the devil's name, whether one can eat meat in the fast-times
and nuns can take husbands, and things of that kind, which
are not committed to you for discussion and about which
God has given you no commandment; and meanwhile the
serious and strict commandment of God hangs in the smoke,
the commandment by which He has appointed you protectors
of poor Germany; and you become murderers, betrayers, and
blood-dogs to your own good, faithful, obedient subjects, and
leave them to the -Turk, nay, cast them into his jaws, as a
reward for the bodies and money wealth and honor that they
stake on you and reach out to you,"
A good orator can here see well what I would like to say,
f I were learned in the art of oratory, and what a legate
108 On War Against the Turk
should aim at and expound at the diet, if he would discharge
his office honestly and faithfully.
For this re ason I said above that Charles, or the emperor,
Banner should be the man to fight against the Turk, and that the
fighting should be done under his banner. "O, that is easy !
Everybody knew it long ago. Luther is not telling us any-
thing new, but only worn-out old stuff." Nay, dear fellow,
the emperor must truly see himself with other eyes than
heretofore, and you must see his banner with other eyes.
You and I are talking about the same emperor and the same
banner, but you are not talking about the eyes that I am
talking about. You must see on the banner the command-
ment of God that says, "Protect the good; punish the bad."
Tell me how many there are who can read this on the emper-
or's banner, or who seriously believe it. Do you not think
that their consciences would terrify them, if they saw this
banner and had to own that they were greatly guilty before
God on account of their failure to give help and protection
to their faithful subjects? Dear fellow, a banner is not
simply a piece of silk; there are letters on it, and on him
who reads the letters luxury and banqueting should pall.
That it has been regarded heretofore as a mere piece of
silk, is easy to prove, for otherwise the emperor would long
ago have set it up, the princes would have followed it, and
the Turk would not have become so mighty. But because the
princes called it with their mouths* the emperor's banner, and
were disobedient to it with their fists, and held it by their
deeds a mere piece of silk, those things have come to the pass
that we now see with our own eyes. God grant that we are
not, all of us, too late, I with my exhortation and the lords
with their banner; and that it may not happen to us as it did
to the children of Israel who would not fight against the
Amorites when God first commanded them; afterwards,
41, 44 when they would have fought, they were beaten, because
God would not be with them. Nevertheless, no one should
despair; repentance and right conduct always find grace.
After emperor and princes remember that, by God's com-
On War Against the Turk 109
mandment, they owe their subjects this protection, they
should be exhorted not to be presumptuous and undertake
this work defiantly, or in reliance on their own might or
planning; for there are many princes who say, "I have right
and authority, therefore I will do it !" Then they pitch in,
with pride and boasting of their might, and meet defeat at
last; for if they did not feel their power, the matter of right
would have small enough effect on them, as is proved in other
cases, in which they pay no heed to right. It is not enough,
then, for you to know that God has committed this or that to
you; you should also do it with fear and humility, for God
commands no one to do anything by his own wisdom or
strength, but He, too, will have a part in it and be feared.
Nay, He will do it through us, and will therefore have us
pray to Him, and not become presumptuous or forget His
help, as the Psalter says, "The Lord hath pleasure in those
that fear Him and wait for His kindness." Otherwise we *j
should persuade ourselves that we could do things and did
not need God's help, and take to ourselves the victory and
the honor that belong to Him.
Therefore an emperor or prince ought to learn well that
verse of the Psalter, in Psalm xliv, "I rely not upon my bow, PS. 44:
and my sword helps me not, but thou helpest us from our 6f *
enemies and puttest to shame them that hate us," and also
the rest of what that Psalm says ; and Psalm Ix, "Lord God,
thou goest not out with our host ; give us aid in our need, for
man's help is vain ; with God we will do deeds ; he shall tread Ps - 60:
down our enemies." These and like sayings have had to be
fulfilled by many kings and great princes, from the beginning-
to the present day. They have become examples, though they
had God's commandment and authority and right. Emperor
and princes, therefore, should not let these sayings become
a jest. Read here the apt illustration given in Judges xx, ^
how the children of Israel were twice beaten by the Benja- 20:isff.
mites, despite the fact that God bade them fight and that
they had the best of right. Their boldness and presumption
were their downfall, as the text says, Fidentes f ortf-
110 On War Against the Turk
tudine et numero. 1 It is true that one should have
horses and men and weapons and everything that is needed
for battle, if they are to be had, so that one is not tempting
God ; but when one has them, one must not be bold because
Mac ^ * t? ^ or ^ 0< ^ * s not to ^ e forgotten or despised, since it is
3:1 9 written, "All victory comes from heaven/'
If these two things are present, God's commandment and
our humility, then there is no danger or need, so far as this
second man, the emperor, is concerned ; we are strong enough
for the whole world and must have good fortune and suc-
cess. But if we have not good fortune, it is certainly because
one of the two things is lacking ; we are going to war either
without God's commandment, or in our own presumption,
or the first soldier, the Christian, is not there with his pray-
ers. It is not necessary here to warn against seeking honor
or booty in war; for he who fights in humility and obedience
to God's command, with his mind fixed solely upon the sim-
ple duty of protecting and defending his subjects, will forget
honor and booty; nay, they will come to him, without his
seeking, more richly and gloriously than he can wish.
Here someone will say, "Where shall we find pious fight-
Wher* ing-men, who will act this way?" Answer: The Gospel is
Are the preached to all the world, and yet very few believe ; neverthe-
^J** 8 less Christendom 2 believes and abides. Therefore I am writ-
Had? ing this instruction with no hope that it will be accepted by
all ; indeed, most people will laugh and scoff at me. For me
it is enough if, with this book, I shall be able to instruct
some princes and their subjects; even though they may be
very few in number, that does not matter to me; there will
be victory and good fortune enough. And would to God that
I had instructed only the emperor, or him who is to conduct
the war in his name and at his command; I would then be
of good hope. It has often happened, indeed, it usually
1 "Trusting m Bravery and numbers'* (Judges 20:22). This is the Latin
text The English versions, and Luther's own Bible, follow the Hebrew and
read, "The people encouraged themselves."
*Christenheit is Luther's name for the totality of Christians, without
reference to social and political groupings in Church or State-
On War Against the Turk 111
happens, God gives a whole land and kingdom good fortune
and success through one single man; just as, on the other
hand, through one knave at court He brings a whole land into
all sorts of distress and misery; as Solomon says, in Ecclesi- Ecd.
astes, "A single knave does great harm." 9:ls
Thus we read of Naaman, the captain of the king of Syria, n King
that through this one man God gave the whole land good for- 3:H
tune and success. So through the holy Joseph He gave great
good fortune to the whole kingdom of Egypt, and in IV
Kings Hi, Elisha says to Jehoram, "I would not look to thee, Geu
if Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, were not there," and thus the 39*
godless kings of Israel and Edam had to be helped for the TT T .
T r 11 ''* -**lSf
sake of one godly man, when otherwise they would have been 3: u
ruined in all kinds of distress ; and in the book of Judges one
can see the good that God did through Ehud, Gideon, Deb-
orah, Samson, and other individuals, though the people were
not worthy of it. See, on the other hand, what great harm SanL
Doeg did at the court of King Saul (I Kings xxii) and what 2203
Absalom accomplished against his father David, with the aid
and counsel of Ahithophel (II Kings xv). n Sam -
I say this in order that it may not frighten us, or move us 16:22ff
in any way, if the great majority are unbelieving and fight
under the emperor's banner with an unchristian mind. We
must remember, too, that Abraham, all by himself, was able
to do much (Genesis xiv and xvii). It is certain, also, that Gen. u
among the Turks, who are the army of the devil, there is ^ 18
not one who is a Christian or has an humble and a right
heart. In I Kings xiv, the godly Jonathan said, "It is not i Sam
hard for God to give victory by many or by few," and him- 14r6
self inflicted on the Philistines a great slaughter such as
Saul could not, with his whole army. It does not matter,
therefore, if the crowd is not good, provided only that the
head and some of the chief men are upright; it would be
good, of course, if all were upright, but that is scarcely
possible.
Moreover, I hear it said that there are those in Germany
who desire the coming of the Turk and his government, be-
cause they would rather be under the Turk than under the
VoL V 8.
112 On War Against the Turk
emperor or princes. It would be hard to fight against the
Turk with such people. Against them I have no better
advice to give than that pastors and preachers be exhorted to
be diligent in their preaching and faithful in instructing such
people, pointing out to them the danger they are in and the
wrong that they are doing, how they are making themselves
partakers of great and numberless sins and loading them-
selves down with them in the sight of God, if they are found
in this opinion. For it is misery enough to be compelled to
suffer the Turk as overlord and to endure his government;
but willingly to put oneself under it, or to desire it, when
one need not and is not compelled^ the man who does that
ought to be shown the sin he is committing and how terribly
he is going on.
The In the first place, these people are faithless and guilty of
81x1 of perjury to their rulers, to whom they have taken oaths and
done homage ; and this is in God's sight a great sin that does
j^ not go unpunished. On account of such perjury the good
21:7 king Zedekiah had to perish miserably, because he did not
keep the oath that he gave to the heathen emperor at Baby-
lon. Such people may think, or persuade themselves, that
it is within their own power and choice to betake themselves
from one lord to another, acting as though they were free
to do or not to do what they pleased, forgetting and not
remembering God's commandment and their oath, by which
they are in duty bound to be obedient, until they are forcibly
compelled to abandon it or are put to death for it; as the
peasants thought, in the recent rebellion, and were beaten
because of it. For just as a man may not slay himself, but
endure until he is forcibly slain by others, so no one should
evade his obedience or his oath, unless he is released from it
by others, either by force or by favor and permission. 1
The preachers must diligently impress this on such people;
indeed their office of preaching compels them to do so, for
it Is their duty to warn their parishioners, and guard them
against sin and harm to their souls. For one who willingly
1 i.e., With the consent of the ruler to whom the oath of allegiance was given.
On War Against the Turk 113
turns from his lord and takes the side of the Turk can never
stay under the Turk with a good conscience, but his own
heart will always speak to him and rebuke him thus, "See,
you were faithless to your overlord and deprived him of the
obedience that you owed him, and robbed him of his right
to rule over you ; now, no sin can be forgiven unless stolen
goods are restored; but how shall you make restitution to
your lord, when you are under the Turk and cannot make
restitution. One of two things, then, must happen ; either
you must toil and labor forever, trying to get away from the
Turk and back to your overlord; or your conscience must
forever suffer compunction, pain and unrest (if, indeed, it
does not result in despair and everlasting death), because
-you submitted to the Turk willingly and without necessity,
against your sworn duty. In the latter case you must be
among the Turks with your body, but over on this side with
your heart and conscience. What have you gained then?
Why did you not stay on this side from the first?"
In the second place, beside all that, such faithless, disloyal,
perjured folk commit a still more horrible sin. They make
themselves partakers of all the abominations and wickedness
of the Turks ; for he who willingly goes over to the Turks
makes himself their comrade and an accomplice in all their
doings. Now we have heard above what kind of man the
Turk is, viz., a destroyer, enemy, and blasphemer of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who instead of the Gospel and faith, sets
up his shameful Mohammed and all kinds of lies, ruins all
temporal government and home-life, or marriage, and, since
his warfare is nothing but murder and bloodshed, is a tool of
the devil himself. See, then! He who consorts with the
Turk must be partaker of this terrible abomination and brings
down on his own head all the murder, all the blood that the
Turk has shed, and all the lies and vices with which he has
damaged Christ's Kingdom and led souls astray. It is mis-
erable enough if one is forced to be under this blood-dog
and devil against his own will, and see and hear these abomi-
nations, and put up with them as the godly Lot had to do in
114 On War Against the Turk
ii Pet Sodom, as St. Peter writes ; it is not necessary to seek them
2: ' of one's own accord, or desire them.
Nay, a man ought far rather die twice over in war, obedi-
ent to his overlord, than have, like a poor Lot, to be brought
by force into such Sodoms and Gomorrahs. Still less ought
a godly man long to go there of his own accord, in disobe-
dience, and against God's commandment and his own duty.
That would mean not only to become partaker in all the
wickedness of the Turk and the devil, but to strengthen and
further them ; just as Judas not only made himself partaker
of the wickedness of the Jews against Christ, but strength-
John ened it and helped it along, while Pilate did not act as evilly
as Judas, as Christ testifies in John xvii.
In the third place, it is to be impressed by the preachers on
the people that, if they do go over to the Turks, they will not
have bettered themselves and their hopes and intentions will
not be realized. For it is the Turk's way not to let any who
are anything or have anything stay in the place where they
live, but to put them far back in another land, where they are
sold and must be servants. Thus they fulfill the proverb
"Running out of the rain and falling in the water"; and
"Lifting the plate and breaking the dish." Bad becomes
worse; it scarcely serves them wrong. For the Turk is a
true man of war, who has other ways of treating land and
people, both in getting them and keeping them, than our
emperor, kings, and princes have. He does not trust and
believe these disloyal people and has the force to do as he
will; thus he has not the same need of people that our princes
have.
The preachers and pastors, I say, must impress this upon
such disloyal people, with constant admonition and warning,
for it is the truth, and it is needed. But if there are some
who despise this exhortation and will not be moved by it,
let them go on to the devil, as St. Paul had to let the Greeks,
and St. Peter the Jews go ; the others should not mind. In-
deed, if it were to come to war, I would rather that none of
these were under the emperor's banner, or stayed under it,
On War Against the Turk 115
but were all on the Turk's side ; they would be beaten all the
sooner and in battle they would do the Turk more harm than
good, for they are out of favor with God, the devil, and the
world, and are surely, all of them, condemned to hell. It is
good to fight against such people, who are plainly and surely
damned both by God and the world. There are many de-
praved and abandoned and wicked men; but anyone with
any sense will without doubt, heed such exhortation and
be moved to stay in his obedience, and not throw his soul so
carelessly into hell to the devil, but rather fight with all his
might under his overlord, even though, in so doing, he is
slain by the Turks.
But you say again, "If the pope is as bad as the Turk
and you yourself call him Antichrist, together with his
clergy and his followers then the Turk is as godly as the The
pope, for he acknowledges the four Gospels and Moses, to-
gather with the prophets ; must we not, then, fight the pope P P
as well as the Turk, or, perhaps, rather than the Turk?"
Answer: I cannot deny that the Turk holds the four Gospels
to be divine and true, as well as the prophets, and also speaks
very highly of Christ and His mother, but at the same time,
he believes that his Mohammed is above Christ and that
Christ is not God, as has been said above. We Christians
acknowledge the Old Testament as divine Scripture, but now
that it is fulfilled and is, as St. Peter says, in Acts xv, too Acts 15:
hard without God's grace, it is abolished and no longer binds iaf *
us. Just so Mohammed treats the Gospel ; he declares that
it is indeed true, but has long since served its purpose ; also
that it is too hard to keep, especially on the paints where
Christ says that one is to leave all for His sake, love God
with the whole heart, and the like. Therefore God has had
to give another new law, one that is not so hard and that the
world can keep, and this law is the Koran. But if anyone
asks why fee does tio nairades to confirm this new law, he
says that that is unnecessary and of HO use, for people had
many mirade$ before, when Moses 5 law and the Gospel
arose, and did not believe. Therefore his Koran did not
116 On War Against the Turk
need to be confirmed by wasted miracles, but by the sword,
which is more effective than miracles. Thus it has been, and
still is the case among the Turks, that everything is done
with the sword, instead of with miracles.
On the other hand, the pope is not much more godly than
Mohammed and resembles him extraordinarily; for he, too,
praises the Gospel with his lips, but holds that many things
in it are too hard, and these things are the very ones that
Mohammed and the Turks also consider too hard, such as
5:2off.those contained in Matthew v. Therefore he interprets them,
and makes of them c o n s i 1 i a , i.e., "counsels," which
no one is bound to keep unless he desires to do so, as has
been shamelessly taught at Paris, and in other universities,
foundations, and monasteries. Therefore, too, he does not
rule with the Gospel, or Word of God, but has made a new
law and a Koran, viz., his decretals, and enforces them with
the ban, as the Turk enforces his Koran with the sword ; he
even calls the ban his spiritual sword, though only the Word
of God is that and should be called that (Ephesians vi).
Nevertheless, he uses the temporal sword also, when he can,
or, at least, calls upon it, and urges and stirs up others to
use it. And I am confident that if the pope could use the
temporal sword as mightily as the Turk, he would perhaps
lack the will to do so even less than the Turk and, indeed,
they have often tried it.
God visits them with the same plague, too, and smites
them with blindness, so that it happens to them as St. Paul
Rom. says, in Romans i, about the shameful vice of the dumb sins,
1:28 that God gives them up to a perverse mind because they per-
vert the Word of God. So blind and senseless are both
pope and Turk that both of them commit the dumb sins
shamelessly, as an honorable and praiseworthy thing. Since
they think lightly of marriage, it serves them right that there
are dog-marriages (and would to God they were dog-mar-
riages), nay, "Italian marriages" and "Florentine brides" 1
among them; and they think these things good; for I hear
* Current names for unnatural vices.
On War Against the Turk 117
one horrible thing after another about what an open and
glorious Sodom Turkey is, and everybody who has looked
around a little in Rome and Italy knows very well how God
there revenges and punishes the prohibition of marriage, so
that Sodom and Gomorrah, which God overwhelmed in days
of old with fire and brimstone, must seem a mere jest com-
pared with these abominations. On this one account, there-
fore, I would regret the rule of the Turk; nay, it would be
intolerable in Germany.
"What are we to do, then? Are we to fight against the
pope, as well as the Turk, since the one is as godly as the
other?" Answer: Treat the one like the other and no one is
wronged ; like sin should receive like punishment. I mean that
this way. If the pope and his followers were to attack the
empire with the sword, as the Turk does, he should receive
the same treatment as the Turk ; and this is what was done to
him by the army of Emperor Charles before Pavia. 1 For
there stands God's verdict, "He that takes the sword shall Matt,
perish by the sword." I do not advise that men go to war 26:52
with the Turk or the pope because of his false belief or evil
life, but because of the murder and destruction which he
does. But the best thing about the papacy is that it has not
yet the sword, as the Turk has ; otherwise it would surely un-
dertake to bring the whole world into subjection, though it
would accomplish no more than to bring it to faith in the
pope's Koran, the decretals. For he pays as little heed as
the Turk to the Gospel, or Christian faith, and knows it as
little, though with fasts, which he himself does not keep, he
makes a great pretense of Turkish sanctity ; thus they deserve
the reputation of being like the Turk, though they are
against Christ.
Against, the papacy, however, because of its errors and
wicked ways, the first man, Sir Christian, 3 has been aroused,
and he attacks it boldly with prayer and the Word of God ;
and he has wounded it, too, so that they feel it and rage.
But no raging helps ; the axe is laid to the tree and the tree
1 See above, p. 87.
a C above, p. 58, 101, 110.
118 On War Against the Turk
must be uprooted, unless it bears different fruit. I see
clearly that they have no notion of reforming, but the farther
things go, the more stubborn they become and want to butt
their way through, and boast, "All or nothing, bishop or
drudge ! m I consider them so godly that, unless they reform
or turn from their shameful ways, both they themselves and
the whole world admit that it is not to be endured, and that
they should betake themselves to their comrade and brother,
the holy Turk. Ah well ! May our heavenly Father quickly
hear their own prayer and grant that, as they say, they may
be "all or nothing, bishop or drudge." Amen! They will
have it so. Amen! So let it be, let it come true, as God
pleases!
But you say further: "How can the Emperor Charles
pen>r m " fight against the Turk in these days, when he has against
Goto him such hindrances and such treachery from kings, princes,
War? the Venetians, indeed from almost everybody?" Answer:
What a man cannot lift, he must let lie. If we can do no
more, we must let our Lord Jesus Christ counsel and aid us,
by His coming, which cannot be far off. a For the world has
come to its end ; the Roman Empire is almost gone and torn
to bits; it stands as the kingdom of the Jews stood when
Christ's birth was near; the Jews had scarcely anything of
their kingdom, Herod was the token of farewell. And so,
I think, now that the Roman Empire is almost gone, Christ's
coming is at the door, and the Turk is the Empire's token of
farewell, a parting gift to the Roman Empire; and just as
Herod and the Jews hated each other, though both made
common cause against Christ, so Turk and papacy hate each
other, but make common cause against Christ and His
kingdom.
Nevertheless, what the emperor can do for his subjects
against the Turk, that he should do, so that even though he
catmot entirely prevent the abomination, he may yet try to
protect and rescue his subjects by checking the Turk and
liolding Mm off. To this protection the emperor should be
*Dren adder drttber, Bissctoff order Bader.
* Cf . SMITH and JACOBS, Lather's Correspondence H, 516 f.
On War Against the Turk 119
moved not only by his bounden duty, his office, and the com-
mand of God, nor only by the unchristian and vile govern-
ment that the Turk brings in, as has been said above, but
also by the misery and wretchedness that comes to his sub-
jects. They know better than I, beyond all doubt, how
cruelly the Turk treats those whom he carries away captive.
He treats them like cattle, dragging, towing, driving those
that can go along, and killing out of hand those that cannot
go, whether they are young or old.
All this and the like more ought to move all the princes,
and the whole empire, to forget their own cases and conten- .
tions, or let them rest for a while, and unite, in all earnest,
to help the wretched; so that things may not go as they went
with Constantinople and Greece. They quarreled with one
another and looked after their own affairs, until the Turk
overwhelmed both of them together, as he has already come
very near doing to us in a similar case. But if this is not to
be, and our unrepentant life makes us unworthy of any grace
or counsel or support, we must put up with it and suffer
under the devil; but that does not excuse those who could
help and do not.
I wish it to be clearly understood, however, by what I
have said, that it was not for nothing that I called Emperor
Charles the man who ought to go to war against the Turk.
As for other kings, princes, and rulers who despise Emperor
Charles, or are not his subjects, or are not obedient, I leave
them to take their own chances. They shall do nothing by
my advice or admonition ; what I have written here has been
for Emperor Charles and his subjects; the others do not
concern me. For I well know the pride of some kings and
princes who would be gkd if not Emperor Charles, but they,
were to be the heroes and masters to win honor against the
Turk. I grant thean the honor, But if they are beaten in
trying to get it, it will be their own fault Why do they not
conduct themselves humbly toward the true head and the
regularly appointed ruler. The rebellion among the peasants
has been punished, but if the rebellion among the princes and
120 On War Against the Turk
lords were also to be punished, I believe that there would be
very few princes and lords left. God grant that it may not
be the Turk who inflicts the punishment ! Amen.
Finally, I would have it understood as my kind and faith-
ful advice that, if it comes to the point of war against the
?*. Turk, we shall arm and prepare, and not hold the Turk too
a For- cheap, acting as we Germans usually do, and coming on the
midaWe field with twenty or thirty thousand men. And even though
nemy a success is granted us and we win a victory, we have no
staying-power, but sit down again and carouse until another
necessity arises. To be sure, I am not qualified to give in-
struction on this point, and they themselves know, or ought
to know, more about it than I, nevertheless, when I see
people acting so childishly, I must think either that the
princes and our Germans do not know or believe the strength
and power of the Turk, or have no serious purpose to fight
against the Turk, but just as the pope has robbed Germany
of money under the pretence of the Turkish war and by
indulgences, 1 so they, too, following the pope's example,
would swindle us out of money.
My advice, therefore, is not to set the armed preparation
so low and not to offer our poor Germans to slaughter. If
we are not going to make an adequate, honest resistance that
will have some staying-power, it were far better not to begin
a war, but to give up lands and people to the Turk in time,
without useless bloodshed, rather than have him win anyhow
in an easy battle and with shameful bloodshed, as happened
in Hungary with King Lewis. 3 Fighting against the Turk
is not like fighting against the King of France, or the Vene-
tians, or the pope; he is a different kind of warrior; he has
people and money in abundance ; he beat the Sultan twice in
succession, 3 and that took people. Why, dear sir, his people
1 ie. Crusading-indulgences.
3 At the bottle of Mohacs* Aug. 29, 1526, Lewis of Hungary commanded an
army of not more than 30,000 against a Turkish force of more than 100,000. It
is estimated that the Hungarians lost 20,000 men, and the king himself was
drowned while retreating. Cf. Cambridge Modern History, I, 96 f.
At Aleppo (1516) and Reydaniya (1517). These two victories gave the
Ottoman Turks complete supremacy in the Mofcammedan world. Cf. Cam-
Modern Hittory, I, 90 f.
On War Against die Turk 121
are under arms all the time, so that he can quickly bring to-
gether three or four hundred thousand men; if we were to
cut off a hundred thousand, he would soon be back again
with as many men as before. He has staying-power.
There is, therefore, nothing at all in trying to meet him
with fifty or sixty thousand men unless we have an equal or
a greater number in reserve. Only count up his lands, dear
sir. He has Greece, Asia, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, etc., that is,
he has so many lands that if Spain, France, England, Ger-
many, Italy, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, and Denmark were
all counted together, they would not equal the land he has.
Besides, he is master of all of them and commands effective
and ready obedience. And, as has been said, they are con-
stantly under arms and are exercised in warfare, so that he
has staying-power, and can deliver two, three, four battles,
one after another, as he showed against the Sultan. This
Gog and Magog is a different kind of majesty than our kings
and princes.
I say this because I fear that my Germans do not know it
or believe it, and think, perhaps, that they are strong enough
by themselves, and take the Turk for such a lord as the
king of France, whom they would easily withstand. But I
shall be without blame, and shall not have laden my tongue
and pen with blood, if a king measures himself with the Turk
all alone, for it is tempting God when any one sets out with
a smaller force against a stronger king, as Christ also shows Lukc
in the Gospel of Luke, especially since our princes are not i*:
the kind of people for whom a divine miracle is to be ex-
pected. The king of Bohemia 1 is now a mighty prince, but
God forbid that he match himself all alone against the Turk !
Let him have Emperor Charles as his captain and all tihe
emperor's power behind him. But then, if everyone will not
believe this, let him learn by his own experience ! I know
what kind of might the Turk's might is, unless the historians
and geographers lie, and daily experience, too; they do not,
that I know.
1 Ferdinand o*f Austria was elected king of Bohemia in 1526.
122 On War Against the Turk
I do not say this in order to scare off the kings from war
against the Turk, but as an admonition to make wise and
serious preparation, and not to go at this matter in so child-
ish and sleepy a way, for I would like, if possible, to prevent
useless bloodshed and lost wars. It would be serious prepa-
ration, if our princes were to wind their own affairs in a ball
and put their heads and hearts, hands and feet, together, and
make one body out of the great crowd from which one could
make another army, if one battle were lost, and not, as here-
tofore, let single kings and princes set upon him yesterday
the king of Hungary, tomorrow the king of Bohemia, day
after tomorrow the king of Poland until the Turk devours
them one after another and nothing is accomplished by it,
except that our people are betrayed and slaughtered and
blood is shed needlessly.
For if our kings and princes were to agree, and stand by
one another and help one another, and the Christian man 1
were to pray for them, I should be undismayed and of good
hope; the Turk would leave his raging and find in Emperor
Charles a man who was his equal. Failing that, if things
are to go as they now go, and no one is in agreement with
another or loyal to another, and everyone wants to be his
own man and takes the field with a beggarly array, I must let
it go at that. Of course I will gladly help pray, but it will
be a weak prayer, for I can have little faith that it will be
heard, because of the childish, presumptuous, and short-
sighted way in which such great enterprises are undertaken,
knowing that it is tempting God and that He can have no
pleasure in it.
What do our dear lords do ? They take it for a mere jest.
It is a fact that the Turk is at our throat, and even if he does
not will to march against us this year, yet he is there, armed
and ready any hour to attack us, when he will, and yet our
princes discuss, meanwhile, how they can harass Luther and
the Gospel. It is the Turk ! Against it force must be used !
It must be put out ! That is what they are doing right now at
*See above, p. 101, 110.
On War Against the Turk 123
Speyer, 1 making the greatest ado about the eating of meat
and fish, and foolishness like that. God give you honor,"
you faithless heads of your poor people! What devil bids
you occupy yourselves so violently with spiritual things,
which are not committed to you, and be so lax and slothful in
dealing with things that God has committed to you and that
concern you and your poor people, now in the greatest -and
most pressing need, and thus be only hindering all those
whose intentions are good and who would gladly do their
part ? Yes, go on singing and hearing the Mass of the Holy
Spirit ! He has great pleasure in it and will be very gracious
to you disobedient, refractory fellows, because you let those
things alone. that he has committed to you, and work at what
he has forbidden you ! Yes, the Evil Spirit may hear you !
With this I have cleared my conscience. This book shall
be my witness concerning the measure and the manner in
which I advise war against the Turk. If any will proceed
otherwise, let him proceed, win or lose, I shall not enjoy his
victory and not pay for his defeat, but shall be innocent of
all the blood that will be shed in vain. I know that this book
will not make the Turk a gracious lord to me, if it comes
before him ; nevertheless, I have wished to tell my Germans
the truth, so far as I know it, and give faithful counsel and
service to the grateful and the ungrateful alike. If it helps,
it helps ; if it helps not, then may our dear Lord Jesus Christ
help, and come down from heaven with the Last Judgment,
and smite both Turk and pope to the earth, together with
all tyrants and all the godless, and deliver us from all sins
and from all evil. Amen.
1 The Diet of Speyer was in session when this work was published.
a The implication is "For I cannot."
ON THE COUNCILS AND THE CHURCHES
(Von den Konziliis und Kirchen)
1539
INTRODUCTION
The work On the Councils and the Churches is inti-
mately related to the Smalcald Articles. Both of these writ-
ings originated as a result of the proposal to hold a general council
of the Church to settle the questions that Protestantism had raised.
As early as 1520, Luther had urged the assembly of a general
council for the reformation of the Church and had declared that if the
pope were unwilling to call such a council, the secular authorities
should do so. His Open Letter to the Christian No-
bility 1 is an argument for the calling of a council and a suggested
program for its action. In 1524 the project was taken up by the
German diet, then meeting at Nuremberg. It demanded that the pope
call "a general, free, and universal council of Christendom," to be
held as quickly as possible " at a suitable place in Germany, "* The
purpose of the council was to settle the difficulties arising out of the
Lutheran movement and, at the same time, to remove the abuses
complained of in the Gravamina of the German Nation,
presented at Worms and reiterated at Nuremberg. From that time
forward the plan was never entirely dropped. It appears in the pro-
ceedings of one diet after another. It was espoused by the emperor
and pressed by him as a necessary means for restoring peace within
the Church and remedying the evils that were apparent in the Church's
life.
The proposal was not kindly received at Rome. The memory of the
reform-councils of the fifteenth century and of what they had done
to the papacy was too fresh in men's minds. Clement VII (1523-34)
opposed it with all the devious arts of Medicean diplomacy and during
his lifetime, nothing was done toward the assembling of a council. His
successor, Paul III (1534-49), was unable to resist the emperor's
demand, which was becoming more insistent. At the time of his ac-
cession, he publicly declared his intention to call a council. It did
not actually assemble until 1545, at Trent, but for ten years before
that, talk of the council was in the air and desultory preparations were
being made for it.
The first call for the council was issued in June, 1536. It was ap-
pointed to meet in Mantua in May, 1537. At the same time, the pope
appointed a commission of cardinals to report on conditions in the
Roman Church and propose measures of reform.*
This action by the pope compelled Luther and his associates to
define their position toward the council. As late as 1530, in the
Preface to the Augsburg Confession * they had declared their willing-
1 In tHis edition, Vol. II, pp. 61 ff.
9 WREDE, Deutsche Reichstagsakten, II, 661ff,; Kna>, Docu-
ments of the Continental Reformation, No. 69.
3 The report of the commission (Consilium de emendanda eccle-
sia) was published in 1538. The text is found most conveniently in KIDD,
p . c i t . * pp. 307 ff. Luther republilshed it, in German translation, with
introduction and notes (Weimar E d . , L, 288 ff.)
4 H. E. JACOBS, BookofConcord,pp. 35 1
Vol. V 9. (127)
128 Introduction
ness to "make appearance and defend their cause'* before such a
council, and the Peace of Nuremberg, in 1532, between the imperial
authorities and the Smalcald League, had been arranged to run until
a council should be held. 1 As the situation was developing, however,
it was becoming more and more apparent that in such a council the
Protestant cause would not have a real hearing, and that the kind of
reformation which Luther and his followers desired would not be
accomplished by it
More than a year before the call for the council went out, Paul
III had begun to sound out the German Protestants. In February,
1535, he had commissioned Paul Vergerius, 2 papal nuncio to Germany,
to seek assurance of their participation. His replies were unsatisfac-
tory and in December the Smalcald League, representing the Lu-
theran princes and cities, laid down four conditions for their entrance
into the council. It must be a f^ ^HT^ 1 , + -a papal ronnril ; ^the
Prptestgjits must be invited to it as full ffartir,ipants r riot gLgJigrgrirs >
~ must be baged on the authority of the Scriptures, not of
"ble/ The!
tie pope; it must be held m Germany, if at all possible. These condi-
tions were entirely unacceptable at Rome.
It was in these circumstances that the Smalcald Articles*
were prepared. Luther was their author, but they t present the view
of Christian truth and of the state of the Church which his party held
when the council was imminent. They were composed in December,
1536, and signed by Jonas, Cruciger, Bugenhagen, Amsdorf, Melanch-
thon, John Agricola, and Spalatin. They were never actually adopted
by the Smalcald League, but were published by Luther in 1538.
Meanwhile, the project for a council had run into other difficulties,
chiefly created by the hostility between Charles V and the King of
France. In April, 1537, one month before the council was to have
met, the date was postponed until November 1, 1537. Later it was
postponed still farther, until May 1, 1538, and the meeting-place was
changed from Mantua to Vicenza, but on that date the emperor
and the French king were at war and the meeting was impossible.
Finally (May 21, 1539), the council was indefinitely postponed.
It was during this time of uncertainty about the holding of the
council and about the things that such a council would be likely to
do, that the treatise On the Counci 1 s and the Churches
was -written. The composition may have been begun as early as
September, 1538.* It was continued, at intervals, during the follow-
ing months, and completed in March, 1539 ." It may have been in
print as early as May of that year, but was certainly published before
August. It was inevitable that it should have many points of contact
with the Smalcald Articles, to which, indeed, it is the
best and most authoritative commentary. It is also closely connected
with a whole group of minor writings of the same period.
This treatise deserves a place in any edition of Luther's selected
works. It stands in this edition as the representative work of the
old Luther. In it he appears as the disillusioned reformer. All the
1 KIDD, op. c i t . p. 303.
a Cf. BENRATH in Realencyk. xx, 546 ff.
8 JACOBS, Book of Concord, pp. 307-38.
*SeeWeimarEd.,p. 501.
'ibid. p. 505.
Introduction 129
hopes for a reformation of the Church, such as he had envisioned in
1520, have disappeared. The thing is not going to come to pass.
Nevertheless, the fight for a pure Church is not to be given up. The
disillusioned reformer is not the discouraged reformer. His courage
is as high, his position just as uncompromising, as in the days when
he hoped that the Roman church could be reformed. Nevertheless,
there is a certain crabbedness and testiness in this writing that is not
found in the best of his earlier books and tracts, though in violence
of expression it is surpassed by some of his still later works. It is
the work of a man who has lived for years with illness as a constant
companioa
The work is interesting as showing the extent of Luther's knowl-
edge of the Church's past. It contains repeated references to his
sources of knowledge. They are Eusebius' Ecclesiastical
History, which he used in Rufinus* Latin translation, with that
author's supplements; Cassiodorus' Historia tripartita,
which consisted of translated excerpts from the histories of Theodoret,
Socrates, and Sozomen; and the Canon Law. To these were added
the then newly published, two-volume work of Peter Crabbe, issued
in 1538 _ under tita title Concilia omni a. It was the most com-
prehensive collection of material bearing upon the councils to which
he had access, and he quotes it frequently. He also cites, though
with much criticism, Platina's Lives of the Popes (His-
toriadevitispontificum, written between 1471 and 1481),
The work falls into three parts. Part I argues the thesis that
the Church cannot be reformed according to the councils and the
fathers. Part II discusses the functions of councils, what they can
and what they cannot do. The discussion takes a broad scope.
Luther takes up the first four ecumenical councils, Nicaea (325),
Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon (451), and
the Council of Jerusalem m apostolic days. He examines the records
of their proceedings with a view to determining what they actually
did, and what of their acts had purely temporary and what had perma-
nent _ significance. He concludes that their powers are limited to de-
fending the faith of the Church against new errors, and that they have
no authority to set up new articles of faith. Incidentally he discusses
the heresies that caused the holding of the councils, and runs occa-
sionally into long digressions on matters indirectly connected with
the main issues. Apart from the revelation of his historical knowledge
and the keenness of his historical criticism, this section has deep
interest as an exposition of Luther's own Christology.
Part III deals with the question, "What is the Church and what
are the marks by which it is known? " This was not a new subject
for Luther. He had discussed it as early as 1519, and his answer to
the question is substantially the same as that which he had given
twenty years before, in his debate with John Eck at Leipzig and in
his tract, The Papacy at Rome. 1 Here, however, Luther
treats the "marks" of the Church in a broader way than in any of
his other writings. Instead of the three marks usually named--4:he
preached Word and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Sup-
*In this edition, Vol. I, pp. 337 ff.
130 Introduction
per he enumerates seven, adding the public forgiveness of sins ("the
office of the keys "), the office of the ministry, public worship and per-
secution. It is this third part of the work that has the greatest
permanent significance.
The text of the treatise is found in Weimar Ed. L, 509-653;
Erlangen Ed. 1 XXV, 219-338; Erlangen Ed., a XXV, 278-
448; Berlin Ed., II, 1-172; St. Louis Ed., XVI, 1247 ff.
The translation is from the text of Weimar Ed.
Literature. The most valuable commentaries on this treatise
are the Introduction to it and to the Smalcald Articles in Weimar
Ed. L, 160 if, 488ff. KOSTLIH-KAWERAU, Luther, II, 404ff and
KOSTLIN, Luther's Theology (English translation by HAY) .
A summary of the argument in MACKINNON, Luther, IV, (1930),
132ff.
On special points, SCHAEFER, L. als Kirchen historiker,
is invaluable.
CHARLES M. JACOBS
MOUNT AIRY
PHILADELPHIA
THE COUNCILS AND THE CHURCH
1539
I have often joined in the" laughter when some one offered
the dogs a bit of bread on the point of a knife and when
they snapped at it, rapped them on the muzzle with the
handle, so that the poor dogs not only lost the bread, but
had the pain beside. It was a good joke, but I never thought,
at that time, that the devil would have that kind of a joke
on us men and take us for such poor dogs, until I found
out how the most holy father, the pope, plays this same kind
of a dog's joke on Christendom in his bulls and books and
daily practices; but, Lord God, with what loss to men's
souls and what mockery of the divine Majesty! That is
what he is doing now with the council. 1 The whole world
has cried for and waited for it; the good emperor and the
whole empire have been working for it for about twenty
years ; a and the pope has always held out false hopes, and
held off, and constantly offered it to the emperor, like a bit
of bread to a dog, until he saw his time ; then he raps him on
the muzzle, and mocks him, as though the emperor were his
fool and jumping-jack. 8
For he now issues the third call for the council* but
before doing it, he sends his apostles into all lands and swears
king's and princes to hold fast the pope's doctrine. The
bishops and their clergy are in agreement with this; they
will yield nothing at all and will allow nothing to be reformed.
Thus the council is closed before it begins ; we are to have
no reforms, but everything is to keep on as it has been up
to this time. Is not that a splendid council ? It has not yet
1 See Introduction.
a Luther had first demanded a Council, before which his case could be
heard* in 1518. Since 1523 the emperor and the diets had been urging it.
See Introduction.
3 GauckelmenHn, a child ren's-toy.
4 The Council had been called to meet in Mantua,. May 23, 1537, then post-
poned until November 1st, and then called to meet at Vicenza, May 1, 153&
(131)
132 On the Councils and the Churches
met, but it has already done what it was to do, if it were to
begin. That is rapping the emperor on the muzzle ; nay, it
is overtaking the Holy Ghost and far outstripping Him, I
have feared, however, and have often written it and said
it, that they would not and could not hold a council unless
they first captured the emperor, the kings, and the princes,
and had them in their own hands, so that they might be
altogether free to make what decrees they please, in order
to strengthen their tyranny and oppress Christendom with
far heavier burdens than it has ever had to bear before.
In God's name, if you lords, emperor, kings, princes,
are so fond of having such worthless, damnable people tram-
ple on your faces and rap you on the muzzle, then we
have to let it be done, and remember that they used to do
still worse things, when they deposed kings and emperors,
cursed them, drove them out, betrayed and slew them, and
played the devil's will with them. History shows this ; and
they think to do the same thing still. Nevertheless, Christ
will know how to find His Christendom and maintain it even
against the gates of hell, though emperor and kings neither
can nor will do anything toward it. He can spare their help
more easily than they can spare His help. What did He have
to do before emperors and kings were born? And what
would He have to do now, if there were no emperors and
kings, even though a world full of devils raged against Him?
He is not unused to sour food, and He can cook food that is
sourer still ; woe to them that must eat it !
But we poor, weak Christians, whom these saints call
heretics, ought to be glad and happy. We ought joyfully to
praise and thank God, the Father of all mercy, that He takes
our part so heartily, and smites our murderers and blood-
dogs with such Egyptian blindness and Jewish craziness that
they propose to yield on no point, however small, and prefer
to let Christendom be destroyed rather than allow the small-
est of the idolatries (of which they are full) to.be reformed.
This is their boast; and they fulfill it, too. I say, we should
he glad ; for this way they make our case better than we had
ever asked, and their own case worse than they now think.
On the Councils and the Churches 133
They know and confess that, on many points, they are
wrong, and have the Scriptures and God against them be-
sides; and yet they would force their way through 1 against
God, and knowingly defend wrong as right. In this confi-
dence, a poor Christian ought to go to the Sacrament, even
without confession, and risk a hundred necks, if he had them,
when he sees so plainly that God reigns on our side, and the
devil on theirs.
We have now seen the final conclusion of the future
Council at Vicenza 2 and the strict verdict of the last council,
(or that which must be regarded as such) . It is to the effect Council
that all the world must despair of a reformation of the
Church. The matter cannot be given a hearing, but they
would rather (as they boast) allow Christendom to be de- church
stroyed; in other words, they would rather have the devil
himself as god and lord, than have Christ and lay aside even
a little of their idolatry. Not satisfied with that, they would
compel us poor Christians, with the sword, to join knowingly
in their worship of the devil and blasphemy of Christ. Such
a defiance no history records and no age has known. Other
tyrants have the poor honor of crucifying the Lord o
Majesty unknowingly, as do the Turks, heathen, and Jews;
but here are men who under Christ's name, and as Chris-
tians, nay, as the highest of Christians, puff themselves up
and arm themselves against Christ, and say, "We know
that Christ's words and deeds are against us ; nevertheless, we
will not endure His Word or yield to it, but He must yield
to us and endure our idolatry ; and yet we will be Christians,
and be known as such."
Thus the pope, with his followers, refuses to hold a council
and will neither reform the Church nor contribute advice or
assistance to a reformation, but would defend his tyranny
by force, and let the Church be destroyed. Therefore we,
whom the pope has so sadly deserted, can do nothing else
than go elsewhere for advice and help, and begin by seeking
and praying a reformation from our Lord Christ. For be-
cause of these abandoned tyrants, who compel us to despair
*Mit dem kopff hindurch.
* See Introduction.
134 On the Councils and the Churches
of a council and a reformation, we must not despair of
Christ, or leave the Church without advice or help; but we
must do what we can, and let diem go to the devil, as they
desire.
By this they loudly testify against themselves that they
are true antichrists and autocatacrites 1 who condemn
themselves and obstinately desire to be condemned. Thus
they exclude themselves from the Church, and openly pro-
claim that they are, and will continue to be, the Church's
worst enemies. For he who says that he would rather that
the Church should be destroyed than that he should let him-
self be improved, or should yield on any point, confesses
thereby that he is not only no Christian and does not want to
be in the Church (which he would allow to be destroyed, in
order that he might remain, and not be destroyed with the
Church) , but also that he will do what he can for the destruc-
tion of the Church. They offer terrible proof of this, not
only in such words as these, but also in their deeds, letting so
many hundred parishes go to wrack, and churches go to ruin,
without shepherds, sermons, and sacraments.
In ancient days the bishops and, indeed, any Christian (as
today), let themselves be tortured, and went to death with
thankfulness and joy for their dear Church, and Christ went
to death for His Church, in order that it might continue and
be preserved. But the pope and his followers now declare
that the Church must go to death for them, so that they may
continue in their tyranny, idolatry, knavery, and all rascality.
What think you of these fellows? They would remain; the
Church shall be destroyed. What are we going to do about
it? But if the Church is to be destroyed, then Christ must
first be destroyed; for it is built on Him, as on a rock,
against the gates of hell And if Christ is to be destroyed,
God Himself must first be destroyed; for it is He who laid
this rock and foundation. Now who could guess that these
lords had such great power that the Church and Christ and
God Himself must so easily go down before their threats ?
They must be far, far mightier than the gates of hell and all
*Le,, S*Jf-ctideintted men.
On the Councils and the Churches 135
the devils, for the Church has remained, and must remain,
in spite of them.
They cry out, I say, that they will not be the Church, or
in the Church, but will be the Church's worst enemies and
help destroy it. Nevertheless they have plagued us and
nagged us with the word, "Church, Church." They have
shouted and spit it out, without measure and without end,
that they are to be considered the Church, and they have
made us out heretics and cursed us and slain us, because we
would not listen to them as though they were the Church.
Now, I verily think, we are honorably and .mightily absolved,
and that they will not and cannot call us heretics any more,
since they do not want to be lauded as the Church, but, as
enemies of the Church, want it to go to destruction, and even
to help suppress it. For to be the Church and, at the same
time, to let the Church be destroyed rather than be destroyed
themselves, or have a hair's-breadth of themselves destroyed,
those two things do not fit That settles it Ex ore
tuo te judico, serve nequam. 1
If the Last Day were not close at hand it would be small
wonder if heaven and earth were to fall at such blasphemy.
The fact that God can tolerate such things as this is a sign
that the Day is not far off. And yet they laugh at that, un-
mindful that they have made God out to be blind, crazy, mad,
and foolish, and they think that their doings are wise and
manly. I, too, would be as care-free as they are, if I re-
garded only their raging; but the wrath of God, which is
shown upon them, terrifies me sorely, and it is high time that
we all wept and prayed earnestly, as Christ did over Jerusa- Luke
lem, when He bade the women weep not for Him, but for 23:2S
themselves and their children. For they do not believe that
the time of their visitation is near, and they will not believe
it, even though they see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, touch it,
and feel it.
Now how are we to attack this thing? The pope will
neither give us a true council nor permit a reformation, but
he and his will let the Church be destroyed. Thus he has
x '*Out of thine own mouth I judge thee, wicked servant/'
136 On the Councils and the Churches
turned himself out of the Church so that he may remain,
and not be destroyed in the Church or with it. He is out ; he
has bidden the Church good-bye. How, I say, are we to
attack this thing ? How are we to proceed, since we must do
It without the pope? For we are the Church, or in the
Church, which the papists would let go to destruction in
order that they may remain. But we, too, would like to
remain and do not intend to go down so miserably, with our
Lord Christ and His Father, the God of us all, before the
defiance of the papists. Yet we feel that there is need for
a council or reformation in the Church, because we see such
gross abuses that, even if we were oxen and asses, and not
men or Christians, and could not observe these things with
eyes or ears, we must, nevertheless, feel them with paws
and claws, and trip over them. Suppose that we, the transi-
tory Church, were ourselves to hold a council 1 against the
abiding lords, without the pope and without their consent,
and to undertake a reformation which the abiding junkers
would consider very transitory, but which they would have to
put up with!
But we shall now get down to the matter, since we have
lost our most holy head, the pope, and will have to take such
counsel with ourselves as our Lord may grant us.
1 John Frederick of Saxony had suggested this. Cf. W e i m a r E d . , L,
514, n. a.
PART I
The Church cannot be reformed in ac-
cordance with the Fathers and the Coun-
cils.
Some years ago many of the papists occupied themselves
with the councils and the fathers and at last brought all the
councils together in one book. 1 This work gave me no small
pleasure, because I had not previously seen the councils side Fope
by side. And there are now among them, I believe, some win Not
good, pious people who would like to see the Church r
formed according to the standard of these councils and
fathers. They are moved to this by the fact that the present
state of the Church, under the papacy, disagrees shamefully
with the ways of the councils and fathers. In this case,
however, their good intentions are quite in vain ; for, beyond
doubt, it is their idea that the pope and his people would, or
would have to, include themselves in such a reformation.
But that is a vain idea, for there stands the pope, with his
abiding lords, 3 and defies, them, as he defies us, saying that
they would rather let the Church perish than yield a single
point ; i.e., they would rather let councils and fathers perish
than yield to them in anything. For if the councils and
fathers were to be followed, God help us ! what would be-
come of the pope and the present bishops? In truth, they
would have to become the perishable Church, instead of
being abiding lords.
I will say nothing about the ancient days, which we may
call the thousand or fourteen hundred years after the birth
of Christ. It is not more than a hundred years since the
pope began the holy practice of giving one priest two livings, 3
such as canonries or parishes. The theologians at Paris and
1 There is some doubt concerning the edition to which Luther refers. It
was probably the two volume collection of Peter Crabbe, published at Cologne
in 1538, though it may have been the earlier work of Jacob Merlin. Cf.
Weimar Ed. I/, 502, 514 n., and. SCHABFER, L. als Kirch en his-
toriker, p, 144.
3 Cf. above, p. 136.
*Cf. VoL II, p. 93 ff.
(137)
138 On the Councils and the Churches
their comrades wrote many terrible things about this and
complained of it. I am not yet sixty years old, and yet I
know that within my memory the custom has grown up that
a bishop should have more than one endowment. Mean-
while, however, the pope has devoured everything, made a
robbery of the annates and everything else, and portions
out the bishoprics by threes, the abbeys and endowed posi-
tions by tens. 1 How can he spue all this up again and let his
chancelry be torn apart, for the sake of the fathers and
councils? Yes, you say, this is an abuse; well, then, take
your ancient councils and fathers and reform it all, for things
were not like this a hundred years ago or sixty years ago,
before you were born.
Now of what use is your reformation according to the
fathers and councils? You hear that the pope and the
bishops will not endure it ; and if they could not endure the
condition of the Church fifty years ago, when you and I
were children, how would they or could they endure it, if we
wanted to reform it by restoring the condition of the Church
of six hundred, or a thousand, or fourteen hundred years
ago. This proposal is simply impossible, because the pope
is in possession, and wants to be unref ormed. Therefore we
must let both councils and fathers and everything that we
can say or think, be useless in these matters ; for the pope is
above councils, above fathers, above kings, above God, above
angels. Let us see you bring him down and make the fathers
and councils his masters 1 If you do that, I will agree with
you and stand by you ; but so long as it does not happen, what
Is the use of talking or writing so much about councils or
fathers? There is no one who takes the matter up. If the
pope, with his imperishable lords, cardinals and bishops, is
unwilling to go along into the reformation and be put, with
us, under the councils and fathers, then a council is of no
nse and then no reformation is to be hoped from him ; for
he dashes it all to the ground and tells us to shut up.
^ But suppose they ask that we allow ourselves to be re-
1 A%echt of Mainz held two archbishoprics and a bishopric at one and the
same time.
On the Councils and the Churches 139
formed, with them, according to the councils and fathers, and
so help the Church, even though the pope and his people
would neither do it nor suffer it! What then? To this I
give a double answer. Either they are bitter, malicious, and
bad, and do not mean it well ; or else they are good-hearted
and mean it well, so far as in them lies.
To the former it should be said that they ought first to take
themselves by the nose and pull the beam out of their own
eye. Let them, with the pope and cardinals or without the
pope and cardinals, grow fond of the councils and fathers
and hold to them. When that happens, then we, following
their holy example, will straightway be there, and will become
better than they are themselves. For, God be praised and
thanked ! we are not such abandoned people that we would
let the Church perish rather than yield, even in great matters,
so long as they are not against God. On the contrary, so
far as our knowledge and ability go, we are ready to perish
utterly, 1 rather than that misfortune or injury should befall
the Church.
But if they themselves pay no heed to the fathers and
councils, and yet would force us under them, that is too raw ;
and we must say, Medice cura te ipsum, 3 and, Ltlke
with Christ, "They lay on people's necks intolerable burdens, 4:23
which they themselves will not touch with one finger." That Matt '
does no good, and we have no small reason for refusal, espe-
cially since they ascribe such great sanctity to the fathers and
the councils. We do not keep them; and neither do they,
except in words and on paper, when they show it to us ; for
we confess, and must confess, that we are right poor, weak
Christians, and that in many things.
For one thing, we have so much to do, day and night,
with reading, thinking, writing, teaching, exhorting, encour-
aging both ourselves and others, that, indeed, no time is left
us even to think whether there ever were councils or fathers,
to say nothing of concerning ourselves with such high mat-
ters as tonsures, chasubles, long robes, etc., and their high
1 ,Bis das weder taut noch h a r da
a "Pfcywcian, heal *
140 On the Councils and the Churches
sanctity. If they have risen so high and become so altogether
angelic and so rich in faith, that the devil has to let them
alone, and can start no errors among them and terrify no
weak consciences ; we weak Christians have not attained to
that state, and we fear that we never shall attain to it on
earth. Therefore they really ought to be gracious and merci-
ful, and not condemn us because we cannot yet equal them
in holiness. For if we were to leave the work that we have
in matters of faith and, weak as we are, to emulate their
strong holiness in dress and foods, we might give up our
weak holiness and not attain their high, strong holiness, and
so sit down between two chairs.
But if they will not be gracious and merciful to us, we
must let them be angels and dance in Paradise among the
flowers, as men who have long since abolished faith and, in
their heavenly holiness, have no temptation from devil, flesh,
or world. But we must toil and sweat in slime and mud;
poor fibelists 1 and beginners in faith that we are, we cannot
be such high doctors and magisters in faith. If we had as
much faith as they think that they have, we could bear ton-
sures, chasubles, councils and fathers more easily than they
do ; but since they do not bear them at all, they bear them
easily (for to bear nothing is to have no heavy burden), and
boast, the while, that we are not willing to bear them.
Likewise we poor Christians have enough to do to keep
Reform God's commandments, so much, indeed, that we cannot give
by Keep- attention to the other high works, which they boast of as
jnffthe spiritual, conciliar, and patristic. For we drive and practice
jMnti* k ot k ourselves and our followers, with the greatest diligence,
meat* to love God above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves,
to be humble and patient, merciful and gentle, chaste and
sober, not covetous or envious, and to keep the rest of God's
commandments. We should be glad if there were among
our people no pride, avarice, usury, envy, over-drinking,
over-eating, adultery, or wantonness; but we succeed so
poorly and miserably that we can bring only a few of them to
these good works; the great mass remains what it is and
1 Pupils who are still learning the alphabet.
On the Councils and the Churches 141
grows worse every day. Now figure it out yourself, when
we are so weak in the doing of these necessary works, com-
manded by God, how can we leave them and give ourselves
to the high, strong, unnecessary works of which they tell
us? If we had performed the divine, little, despicable, or as
they contemptuously call them, "civil" works, then, God will-
ing! we would begin to do their spiritual, churchly works
about meat-eating, dress, holy days, etc.
But they have an easy task, 1 because they fulfil all God's
commandments, love God above all things and have no covet-
ousness or usury, no adulterers or f ornicators, no drinkers or
drunkards among them, but they do all these little, good,
divine works so easily that time actually hangs heavy on
their hands. 3 Therefore it is only right that, over and above
these "civil" works of ours, they should undertake to do
stronger or higher works, in obedience to the Church or the
fathers, since they are far too strong to practice these little
good works with us ; they have taken a long leap beyond them
and have got far ahead of us. Nevertheless, in their high
and strong mercy, and according to the doctrine of St. Paul,
they ought to have sympathy with us weak, poor Christians,
and not condemn us or make fun of us because we are learn-
ing so childishly to toddle along the benches, nay, to creep in
the mire, and cannot skip and dance, on such light feet and
legs, over and outside of God's commandments, as they do,
the strong heroes and giants, who can attack the works that
are higher and greater than loving God above all things and Roro -
one's neighbor as oneself; though St. Paul calls this "the 13:1
fulfilling of the law" in Romans xiii, and so does Christ, in Matt
Matthew v. 5:19
If they will not have sympathy with us, however, we ask at
least a Jittle time until we have completed God j s command-
ments and the little children's works ; then we will gladly fall
to upon their high, spiritual, knightly, manly works. For
what is the use of trying to compel a child to run and work
like a strong man? Nothing will come of it; the child can-
not. So we poor, weak Christians, who, in God's
^S ie ha ben gut thun. Cf. Weimar Ed., L. 518, n. 1.
* D a s s sie schlechtweg mussig gehen.
142 On the Councils and the Churches
ments and His little good works, toddle along the benches
and sometimes scarcely creep on all fours, nay, even pull
ourselves along on the ground, so that Christ must dandle us,
as a mother or a maid dandles a child, we simply cannot
keep pace with their strong, manly running and doing; and
God forbid that we should! Therefore we shall keep the
"churchly and conciliar holiness" (as they call it) until we
have nothing more to do in God's commandments and good
works, and not permit this reformation which we cannot
accomplish. Let that be sufficient answer to the first kind
of people, those who demand this reformation of us with
evil intent.
The second kind 1 are those who hope, though vainly, that
and such a fine reformation as they imagine might still be accom-
Fathera p^ed by means of the fathers and councils, even though the
pope were unwilling or wanted to hinder it. These I answer
kindly that I regard it an impossible undertaking and do not
know at all how it can be attacked. For I, too, have read the
fathers, even before I set myself so stiffly against the pope;
and I read them more diligently than they who now quote
them so defiantly and proudly against me ; for I know that
none of them has attempted, as I have, to lecture in the
schools upon a book of Holy Scripture and use the writings
of the fathers in doing so. Let them take up one book of
Holy Scripture and seek their glosses 3 in the fathers, and
they will have the same experience that I had, when I took
up Hebrews with St. Chrysostom's glosses, Titus and Gala-
tians with the help of St. Jerome's, Genesis with the help of
St. Ambrose's and Augustine's, the Psalter with all the
writers that were to be had, and so on. s I have read more
than they think and driven through all the books, and they
are too presumptuous when they imagine that I have not read
the fathers, and would hold up to me as something precious
the very thing that, twenty years ago, I had to think lightly
of so that I might read the Scriptures.
1 See above, p. 139.
*i.e., Interpretations.
* On Luther's use of the fathers in hi exegetical works, gee SCHAEFE*, L.
als Kirchen, hi st<orik fcr, 180 ff.
On the Councils and the Churches 143
St. Bernard claims that he learned his wisdom from the
trees, the oaks and pines, which were his doctores, i.e.,
he got his ideas tinder the trees, out of the Scriptures. 1 He
says, too, that he regards the holy fathers highly, but does
not heed everything that they have spoken. He states his
reason in this parable, he would rather drink from the
spring than from the rill. So all men who can drink out of
the spring forget the rill, except as they use the rill to bring
them to the spring; thus the Scriptures must remain master
and judge. Or, if we follow the rills too much, they lead us
too far from the spring, and lose both taste and virtue, until
at last they flow into the salt sea, and are lost. That is what
has happened under the papacy.
Enough of that ! We would show cause why this under-
taking is impossible. In the first place, it is plain that the
councils are not only unequal, but even contradictory, and the ^^
same is true of the fathers. If we were to try to harmonize ^
them, there would be greater disagreement and disputing One
than there now is, and we should never get out of it any
more. For since they are unlike and often contradictory,
our first undertaking would be to see how we could cull out
the best and let the rest go. Then the trouble would start !
One would say, "If we are going to keep them, we must keep
all or nothing/' Another would say, "You are culling out
what you like, and leaving what you do not like." Who
will be the umpire?
Look at the Dec return, 3 in which Gratian had this
very purpose, so that the book was even called C o n c o r -
dantia discordantium: i.e., he wanted to comspare
the unlike utterances of the fathers and councils, harmonize
the contradictory ones and cull out the best He succeeded
like a crab walks ; 8 often let the best go and kept the worst,
and neither compared nor harmonized them. The jurists
themselves say it stinks of ambition and avarice, and a canon-
ist is nothing but a jackass. How much more would that be
1 Luther had made use of this same reference in a similar connection as early
as 1519. Cl ENBERS, L 4-39.
*Tfce Decretum of Gratian, which forms the first part of the Canon
Law. Cf . Vol. II, p. 67, note 2.
* Le, Backwards.
V 10.
144 On the Councils and the Churches
the case with us if we actually got to the point of trying to
make the utterances and opinions of all the fathers and coun-
cils agree together ! It would be pains and labor lost and bad
would be made worse, and I shall not involve myself in such
a dispute ; for I know that there would be no end to it and
we would have, at last, only an uncertain case, at the cost of
vain and lost labor and time. They are too green, 1 the young
paper-smearers, and far too inexperienced. They think that
what they read and imagine must be so and all the world
must worship it, though they cannot say the A B C of Scrip-
ture and are inexpert even in the fathers and councils. They
shout and sputter, and do not know what they are saying and
writing.
I shall say no more of Gratian. St. Augustine writes to
Januarius and complains 2 that even in his time, that is, three
hundred years after Christ (for in this year 1539 he has
been dead for eleven hundred and two years), 3 the Church
was already greatly burdened with statements of bishops, on
one side and another, so that the condition of the Jews was
more tolerable and endurable; and he sets down these
clear, plain words, Innumerabilibus servilibus
oneribus premunt ecclesiam, "They oppress
the Church with innumerable burdens," while the Jews are
burdened only by God, not by men. He also says, in the
same place, that it was Christ's will to impose upon the
Church only a few, easy ceremonies, viz., baptism and the
sacrament of the altar, and speaks of no more than these
two, as everyone can read. The books are to be had and no
one can accuse me of inventing this.
But he makes a mighty rent in this, and says, in the same
place, Hoc genus habet liberas observa-
tion, e s , i.e., "No one is bound to keep all of these, but
may omit them without sin." If St. Augustine is not here
a heretic, then I shall never become a heretic. He throws the
opinions of so many bishops and so many churches all on a
heap in the fire and recommends only baptism and the Sac-
*Zti geel ttmb den Schnabel.
*Ad inquisitiotLes Januarii, in MIGNE, xxxiii, 221.
was seven years out of the way. Angnstme died in 430.
On the Councils and the Churches 145
rament, believing that Christ did not will to impose any
further burden on the Church, if, indeed, that can be called
a burden which is all comfort and grace; as He says, "My
burden is light and my load is pleasant," i.e., "My burden is
peace and my load is pleasure."
Nevertheless, the fine, wise man does this honor to the Th
great, so-called universal, 1 or chief, councils. He makes a "
distinction between them and the others, and the statements
of the bishops, and says that they are to be highly thought
of, saying, in the same place, that the ordinances of these
great chief councils ought rightly be kept, and that much
depends on them and that they have, to use his own words,
saluberrimam auctor itatem, i.e., it is highly
profitable to have respect for them. But he never saw one
of these great councils, nor was he ever in one of them,
otherwise he would, perhaps, have written differently, or
more, about them. For in all the books there are not more
than four of these chief councils that are famous or well-
known, and so the Roman bishops 3 compare them to the four
Gospels, as they cry in their decretals.
The first was the Nicene Council, held at Nicaea, in Asia,
in the fifteenth year of Constantine the Great, almost thirty-
five years before Augustine's birth. 3 The second was at
Constantinople in the third year of the Emperors Gratian and
Theodosius the Great, 4 who ruled jointly. At that time
Augustine was still a heathen, and not a Christian, a man
about twenty-six years old, so that he could not take an In-
terest in all the matters. The third, at Ephesus, he did not
live to see;* still less the fourth, at Chalcedon. 6 All this
comes from the histories and the reckoning of the years ; it
is certain.
I must say this because of the saying of St. Augustine,
that the great chief councils are to be regarded, because
much depends on them, in order that his opinion may be
1 Or ecumenical.
4 In the Canon Law (Decret. Grat. l r dist. 15, c. 2), quoted from
Gregory I, 2 p. I, 24.
8 The Council of Nicaea was held in 325; Augustine was horn in 354.
*A. T>. 381.
* The Council of Ephesus was held in 43 U the year after Augustine** death.
"The Council af Chalcedon was in, 451.
146 On the Councils and the Churches
rightly understood. He was speaking of only two councils,
Nicsea and Constantinople, which he had not seen, but after-
wards learned about from writings; and at their time no
bishop was over any other. The bishops, neither the bishop
of Rome nor any other, could never have brought these coun-
cils into existence, if the emperors had not called them to-
gether. And so I judge, in my folly, that the great, or uni-
versal, councils are so called because the bishops were called
together out of all lands by the monarch, the great, chief, or
universal, ruler.
For no matter how wild it makes all the papists, history
testifies that, if the Emperor Constantine had not called the
first Council at Nicsea, Pope Sylvester 1 would have had tb
leave it uncalled. And what would the poor bishop of Rome
have done, for the bishops in Asia and Greece were not
subject to him ? If he could have done it, without the power
of the Emperor Constantine, he would have put it, not in
Asia, far across the sea, where no one cared -anything about
his authority (as he well knew by experience), but in Italy,
at Rome, or somewhere nearby, and he would have compelled
the emperor to come thither. I have the same to say of the
other three councils, named above. If the emperors Gra-
tian, Theodosius, a Theodosius II, 8 and Marcian* had not as-
sembled those three great councils, they would never have
been held for the sake of the bishop of Rome or the other
bishops ; for the bishops in other lands cared as much about
the Roman bishop, as the bishops of Mainz, Trier and
Cologne,* now care about the authority of one another; in-
deed they cared much less.
Yet one sees in the histories that the Roman bishops, even
before that time, were always seeking* after lordship over
the other bishops, but could not get it because of the mon-
* Sylvester (314-337) was pope at the time of the Council.
'Gratian (375-83) and Theodositis I (379*5) were responsible for the
Cornell of Constantinople.
'Theodosius II was emperor in the East, 408-50.
* Marcian was also emperor in the East, 450-58.
* The three principal archbishops of Germany.
'Sie maben geseucfcelt, gekrunckt, gehustet und
ge&rochtztet nach der Herrschaft. This defies translation. Cf.
Weimar Ed. L, 523, notes.
On the Councils and the Churches 147
arch. They wrote many letters, now to Africa, now to
Asia, and so on, even before the Nicene Council, saying that
nothing was to be ordered publicly without the Roman See*
But no one paid any attention to it at the time, and the bish-
ops in Asia, Africa, and Egypt acted as though they did not
hear it. They gave the people fine words, and they were
humbk, but they yielded nothing. You will discover this if
you read the histories and compare them carefully; but you
must pay no attention to their cries and those of their
hypocrites, but look the texts and histories in the face or see
them as a mirror.
Now when the word "Council" (partly because of the
above-mentioned letter of Augustine) was in high honor
among Christians throughout the world, and the fine mon-
archs, or emperors, were gone, the Roman bishops were
always considering how they might get possession of the
name "Council," so, that all Christendom would have to
believe what they said, and how, under this fine name, they
might secretly become monarchs. This is the truth and it
smites their conscience, if they could have a conscience.
And that is what actually happened. They accomplished it/
so that they have now become Constantine, Gratian, Theo-
dosius, Marcian, and much more than these monarchs and
their four great councils. For the pope's councils now are
called, Sifc'valo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione
v o 1 u n t a s ^'not in all the world, to be sure, nor through-
out the Church, but in that part of the Roman Empire that
Charles the Great had.* At last, possessed by all the devils,
they shamefully overthrew some of the emperors, trod them
under foot, and betrayed them in many ways; and they
would still do the same thing, if they could/
Enough, for the present, about what St Augustine says
of the councils ! We would also show what he believes about
the fathers. He says, in the letter to St. Jerome, which Gra- andthe
Fathers
*Sie habens erseuchelt und erhustet. Another trntranslatable
expression.
m *\'l wiU it; I command it; my will is the reason for it." A proverb orig-
inating in JuvenaL
i.e, In the lands of Western Europe.
* A reference to humiliations put upon the mediaeval emperors by the pope*
148 On the Councils and the Churches
tian also quotes, in dist . 9., 1 "I have learned to hold the
Scriptures alone inerrant ; all others, I so read that, however
holy or learned they may be, I do not hold what they teach
to be true, unless they prove, from Scripture or reason, that
it must be so." Furthermore, in the same section of the
D e c r e t u m* Is St. Augustine's saying, from the preface
to his book De trinitate, "Do not follow my writings as
Holy Scripture. When you find in Holy Scripture anything
that you did not believe before, believe it without doubt ; but
in my writings, you should hold nothing for certain, con-
cerning which you were before uncertain, unless I have
proved that it is certain/' Many more sayings of this kind
are in other passages of his writings. He says, for example,
"As I read the books of others, so will I have mine read."
The other sayings I shall pass by for the present
The papists know very well that there are many of these
passages here and there in Augustine and some bits of them
have been put in the D e c r e t u m . Nevertheless, they act
against their own consciences, and pass over these sayings,
or suppress them, and set the fathers, the councils, nay, even
the bishops of Rome, who have commonly been very un-
learned men, above everything. St. Augustine must have de-
tected many faults in the fathers who were before him, be-
cause he wants to be impartial and have all of them, includ-
ing himself, subject to Holy Scripture. Otherwise, why
should he have needed to guard himself against them by say-
ing, "However holy or learned they may be"? He might
have said, "Yes, everything that they write I consider equal
to Holy Scripture, because they are so holy and learned," but
he says "No." So he also says in another letter to St.
Jerome, 8 who was angry because St. Augustine was not
satisfied with one point in his commentary on Galatians,
"Dear brother (for he was a fine, kindly man), I hope that
you would not have your books considered equal to the books
of the apostles and prophets."
* w - 9 ' c 5; &c ari*^ MIGNB, xxxiii, 277.
text in Wimar Ed. L, 524, not* b.
*d i st , 9 y c. 3; the original in MIGHE, xHi, 869,
Ep. 82; MIGNE, anodii, 227; Nicenc & Post Niccae Fathers,
J, 350*
On the Councils and the Churches 149
I would be ashamed to death, If such a good, fine man were
to write such letters to me and ask me not to think my books
equal to the books of the apostles and prophets, as St. Au-
gustine writes to St. Jerome. But what we are now concerned
with is the fact that St. Augustine observed that the fathers
were sometimes human and had not overcome Romans vii; 1 Rom, 7:
therefore he will not rely on them, neither on his predeces- 18ff *
sors, holy and learned fathers though they were, nor on him-
self, and still less upon his successors, who would be smaller
men* but he will have the Scriptures as master and judge.
So it has been said above 3 by Bernard that the oaks and pines
were his masters, ajtid he would rather drink from the spring
than from the rill. He could not have said this, if he had
held the books of the fathers equal to Holy Scripture and
had found no fault in them ; but he would have said, "It is
all the same whether I drink from the Scriptures or the
fathers." He does not do that, but lets the rill flow on, and
drinks from the spring.
What are we to do, then ? If we are to bring the Church
back to the doctrine and opinion of the fathers, there stands
St. Augustine, and confuses us and lets us find no end to our
differences of opinion, because he will not have reliance put
upon the fathers, bishops, or councils, no matter how holy and
learned they may be, nor on himself, but refers us to the
Scriptures ; "otherwise, he says, everything is -uncertain, and
lost, and vain. But to exclude St. Augustine is in conflict
with our purpose, which is to have a Church that will accord
with the doctrine of the fathers; for if St. Augustine is
thrown out of their number, the others are not worth much,
and it is intolerable nonsense not to consider St. Augustine
one of the best fathers, since throughout all Christendom he
is esteemed the highest of them, and both Church and
school have hitherto preserved his writings best of all, as is
plain. And yet you compel us to this endless trouble and
labor of holding to the councils and fathers, against the
Scriptures, and judging ourselves by them! Before that
good that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do,
.
*Se above, p. 143.
150
On the Councils and the Churches
What
Doth*
Councils
Teach?
The
Apostolic
Council
Acts
happens we shall all be dead ; the Last Day will come long
before that.
However, we shall put aside St. Augustine, Bernard, and
those who write such things, and take up the councils and
fathers themselves and see whether we should be able to
direct our life by them. But in order not to make too long
a story of it, we shall take up particularly the first two great
councils, which St. Augustine praises; namely, those of
Nicaea and Constantinople, although he did not see them.
Nay, in order to make our case altogether certain, and in
order that we may make no mistakes and have no fears, we
shall take up the first council, that of the apostles, held at
Jerusalem, of which St. Luke writes in Acts xv. There it
is written that the apostles claimed that the Holy Spirit
ordered these things through them. Visum est Spir-
itui Sancto et nobis, etc., "It seemed good to the
Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than
these necessary things ; that ye abstain from things sacrificed
to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from
fornication, from which if ye abstain, ye do well."
There we hear that the Holy Ghost (as the preachers of
councils boast) commands that we are to eat nothing that
has been sacrificed to idols, no blood, nothing that has been
strangled. Now if we would have a Church according to this
council (as would be only right, since it is the highest and
the first, and was held by the apostles themselves), we should
have to teach and insist that no prince, lord, burgher, or
peasant should henceforth eat geese, roe-deer, stag, or porik;
cooked in blood, and must also avoid carp and fish-jelly; for
there is blood in them or, as the cooks say, "color." And
especially must the burghers and peasants eat no red sausage,
or blood-sausage, for that is not just thin blood, but blood
that has been thickened and cooked, a very coarse blood.
Likewise we must not eat rabbits or birds for, according to
fee laws of the chase, they are all strangled, 1 even though
they are not cooked in blood, but only fried.
If, then, we are to abstain from blood, according to this
1 Le,, Taken in scares.
On the Councils and the Churches 151
council, we must let the Jews be our masters, in church and
kitchen, for they have a special, big book on the subject of
blood-eating, 1 so big that one cannot vault over it with a pole,
and they look for blood so closely that they will not eat
meat with any Gentile or Christian even though the meat
is not strangled, but slaughtered as purely as possible (like
the meat of oxen and calves) and the blood washed out with
water; they would rather die than do it. God help us ! how
we Christians would be tormented over this council, in the
two matters of eating blood and the meat of strangled ani-
mals alone ! Let anyone who will start to bring the Church
into obedience to this council ; I shall follow him very gladly.
Otherwise, I want to be excused from listening to this cry
of "Councils ! Councils ! You do not keep the councils and
fathers !" Or I will cry back, "You yourselves do not keep
councils or fathers, because you treat this highest council
and the highest fathers, the apostles themselves, with con-
tempt ! Why do you think that I ought or must keep coun-
cils and fathers, when you yourselves will not touch them
with a finger?" I would say, as I said to the Sabbatarians, 3
that they ought first to keep their Mosaic law, and then we,
too, would keep it; but when they themselves do not and
cannot keep it, it is laughable when they ask us to keep it.
You say it is not possible to introduce the rules of this
council because opposite practices have become too wide-
spread. That is no answer, for we have undertaken to gov-
ern ourselves according to the councils, and here it says,
"The Holy Ghost has decreed/' Against the Holy Ghost the
plea that things have gone too far or taken too deep a hold,
has no force, and that kind of excuses leaves no conscience
sure of what to do. If we would be conciliar, we must keep
this council above all others ; if not, then we may keep none
of the other councils and thus be free from all councils. For
in this council there were not simple bishops, as in the
others, hut the apostles themselves, who were the Holy
* Luther is probably referring to the Talmud. Cf . Weimar Ed. L, 527,
note a.
a Ein Brief D. Mart. Luther. Wider die Sabbather,
in March, 153& Weimar Ed., L, pp. 312-37.
152 On the Councils and the Churches
Ghost's certain and highest fathers. Besides, it is not so
impossible to avoid blood and things strangled ! What would
it be like, if we had to eat corn, herbs, beets, apples, and
other fruits of the earth and the trees, as our ancestors did
before the Flood, when it was not permitted to eat meat?
We should not die of hunger, even if we were to eat neither
meat nor fish* How many people, even today, have to live,
eating fish or meat very seldom- Thus the plea of impossi-
bility does not help to strengthen our conscience against the
Holy Ghost, because without injury to body or soul, we could
go back to living, not only without eating blood and things
strangled, as Moses teaches, but also without fish and meat,
as before the Flood. I am surprised that, with all the many
spirits of disorder of these days, the devil has not brought up
these beautiful ideas, which have such fine precedents of
Scripture on their side.
If we were to say that all this was not only impossible, but
had fallen of itself and come into disuse or gone out of use
(as I am accustomed to call the canons which are no more in
use canones mortuos, "dead canons"), this again
would not stand the test. I know, to be sure, that the
pope and his followers seek this way out, and pretend that
the Church has the power to alter this council of the
apostles. This is a He ! They cannot produce a single utter-
ance of the Church which contains a commandment to do
this or make any changes. Besides, it is not proper for the
Church to alter an ordinance of the Holy Ghost, and it never
does so.
They do not see, however, blind leaders that they are, that
with that kind of talk they are only preparing a rod for
their own hide. If we allow that men have power to alter
the ordinance and commandment of the Holy Ghost, we shall
straightway tread the pope under foot, with all his breves
and bulls, and say, "If the first decrees of the apostles are
not binding, though we are sure that the Holy Ghost estab-
lished them, as they themselves say, Visum est, how
much less shall the power and the decrees of the popes be
binding, about which we are by no means so certain that the
Matt.
7:26
On the Councils and the Churches 153
Holy Ghost was with them as He was with the apostles?
We must let the apostles amount to something, too, and even
though they were not above the popes, (as the heretic, Dr.
Luther, holds), nevertheless, we must give them a seat
alongside the popes. And as a proof of this, the popes have
often been open and abandoned knaves, and again and again
one of them has thrown away the decrees of another. The
Holy Ghost cannot contradict Himself thus and the apostles
were not such popes or knaves. Therefore there must be
something else to say about this ; these bad jokes will not
work ; unless one were to say that the Church was built upon
a reed, which the wind blows hither and yon, according
to the whim of the pope or of men. For the Church must
not sway on a reed, but rest upon the rock and be firmly 7 . 26
founded, as Matthew vii and xvi say." 16:18
^But we were beginning to say that it 1 has fallen of itself,
without alteration by the Church, and therefore one need no
longer keep it. Nay, dear friend, M a 1 e , 3 says the jurist.
If one is not to keep a law, or it is to become no law because
it is not kept or has fallen, then let us be easy in our minds
and keep no more laws. A whore can say that she is doing
right because the sixth commandment has fallen and is not
in use among adulterers and adulteresses. Nay, we children
of Adam, together with the devils, will hold a council against
God, and pass this resolution : "Listen, God, all your com-
mandments have fallen and are no longer in use among us
men and devils ; therefore we ought no longer to keep them,
but act against them ; you ought to approve of that and not
condemn us, since there is no sin, when the law has fallen."
So robbers and murderers might also beatify themselves,
and say: "We are no longer bound to be obedient to you
princes and lords, but are right in fighting you and robbing
you, for among us your law has fallen, etc."
Advise us, now, what we are to do. It does not help us
that the apostolic council has fallen (which Is the truth !) or
been altered by the Church (which is a Eel). What harm
would be done, if we were to scratch out the word, Holy
x i.e v The decree of the apostoHc council.
* **Wroag."
154 On the Councils and the Churches
Ghost, and let it be the apostles alone who made this decree,
without the Holy Ghost? Perhaps that would help the case !
If that is laughable, then think up something better ! If one
does not scratch out "Holy Ghost" from the council, then one
-of two things must happen, either both we and the papists
should keep this council; or we should be free from it and
it need not be kept, and so we poor heretics would be rid of
the cry, "Councils, Councils, Councils !" For if this council
is not to be kept, then none of the rest is to be kept, as I
have said. Otherwise, they should hear once more the cry,
Medice, cura te ipsum, 1 "Hans take yourself by
the nose." Let them who raise this cry first keep it, and we
will follow in their footsteps. If not, then their crying
and sputtering of this word, "Councils, Councils" is not in
earnest, but they are only using it to trample people in the
face, to terrify weak consciences treacherously and wickedly,
and to destroy simple souls.
I say all this about this council, because it is the first and
the highest, so that we may think the matter over before we
allow that the Church should live, or be ruled, according to
the councils. If this council causes us so much confusion,
what will it be like when we take up the others? It is true,
I admit, that the word "Council" is easy to say, and a ser-
mon about keeping the councils is easy to preach ; but what
attitude to take in order to put the councils in force again,
what about that, my dear friend? 3 The pope and his fol-
lowers are clever; they get off lightly by saying that he is
above all councils and may keep what he will and allow
others to keep them as far as he will. Yes, if the problem
can be solved that way, then let us stop using the word "Coun-
cil" and stop preaching that the councils shall be kept, and
cry, instead, "Pope, pope! The pope's doctrine should be
kept !" Thus we all get off easy and are fine Christians, like
them! For what good will the council do us, if we cannot
and will not keep it, but only boast the name or the letters
that compose it?
* "Physician, cure thyself/' Cf. aboye, p. 139.
*Wo nan? wo da? lieber Frcund.
On the Councils and the Churches 155
Or (since we are talking about it, and must jest a little
In this carnival-time 1 ), it seems better still to me, if it is
only a matter of the letters C-o-u-n-c-i-l, without deeds or
results, that we should make the penmen 2 popes, cardinals,
bishops, and preachers. They could write those letters finely,
big, little, black, red, green, yellow, and any way that was
wanted. Then the Church would be ruled by the councils
and there would be no need to keep what has been ordered
by the councils, but the Church would have enough when it
had the letters, C-o-u-n-c-i-l, C-ou-n-c-H. But if the pen-
men do not please us, let us take painters and wood-
carvers and printers, to paint and carve and print us beau-
tiful councils, and then the Church is splendidly ruled. Let
us make the painters, carvers and printers pope, cardinals
and bishops ! What would be the use, then, of asking any
further how the decrees of the councils are to be kept?
Letters and pictures are enough.
But think a little further! Suppose that all men were
blind, and could not see these councils when they were
written, painted, carved, printed! How, then, could the
Church be ruled by the councils ? My advice is to take the
choristers at Halberstadt and Magdeburg, when they sing
the Quicunque s and let them shout, instead, "Council,
Council" until the church and the whole dome shake. We
could hear them away across the Elbe, even if we were all
blind. Then the Church would be well ruled and these
choristers would quickly be made popes, cardinals and
bishops, because it is so easy for them to rule the Church,
which has become an impossible task for the holy Fathers
in Rome.
I shall say more about this council after a while; this is
getting too long, for I must not forget the Council of Nicsea,
which is the best, and the first, universal council after that
Of the apostles. Nicaa
This council decrees, among other things, that Christians
who have fallen are to be received back into penance for a
^-Fastnacht, axx indication of the date when this part of the treatise
was written. In 1539, Shrove Tuesday was February 19th.
* D z e Stuhlschreiber, the professional penmen.
8 The Athanasiau Creed, Quicunque vult salvus esse.
156 On the Councils and the Churches
period of seven years ; if they die in the meantime, they are
to be free, and are not to be denied the Sacrament. 1 This
decree the council-criers themselves do not keep, but act
against it and consign dying Christians to purgatory with
the remainder of their penance. If the pope were to keep
tory this rule, the devil ! what a poor beggar he would become,
and all the monasteries along with him, if this mine, ore-pit,
and trade viz., purgatory, masses, pilgrimages, founda-
tions, 2 brotherhoods, indulgences, bulls, etc. were to come
to nothing. The devil protect the pope, with all cardinals,
bishops, monks and nuns, so that the Church may not be
ruled according to this council ! What would become of them ?
But this decree concerns me, for I have urged it against the
pope before now, and can readily imagine how they might
turn it about and interpret it against me/ and so I shall let
at go now. I must deal just now with things that affect
both parties, to the praise and honor of the council-criers !
War The same council decrees that those who give up warfare
for the sake of religion, and afterwards go to war again,
are to spend five years among the catechumens, and two
years after that are to be admitted to the Sacrament. 4 I
take the word "religion" to mean, here, the common Chris-
tian faith; of that more later. In order not to get off the
track and be hindered in my course by such side-questions,
I shall not here discuss whether the council was forbidding
war of had the power and right to forbid it or condemn it,
if the soldier did not otherwise deny the faith of which the
former rule speaks. On the contrary, our question is
whether this article viz., that no soldier can be saved or
be a Christian, has hitherto been kept or whether it is to
be kept henceforth as a matter of law. For the pope him-
self, with all his followers, must testify that this article has
fallen and cannot possibly be set up again, far less even than
^he Canons of Nicaea were preserved in several different forms. For the
provisions here cited, seeNicene & Postnicene Fathers, Series
I, Vol. XIV, pp. 24, 29, Canons XI and XIII. Luther's citation of the canons
is not always accurate and seems to rest upon the account of Rufinus. (Cf.
Weimar Ed., L, 531, note b).
*ie. Endowments to provide masses for the dead at stated times. All the
practices here referred to were connected with the sacrament of penance and
belief in purgatory.
"i.e., As a support for the sacrament of penance.
* Canon XII. (Nicene Fathers, XIV, 27).
On the Councils and the Churches 157
the apostles' decree against blood sausage, black jelly and the
like, spoken of above. 1 The council speaks, not of murder-
ers, robbers, enemies, but d e militia, i.e., of regular
war, when a prince, king, or emperor is in the field with his
banner, in which case, God Himself has commanded, in
Romans xiii, that people are to be in subjection and be obedi-
ent, even though the rulers were heathen, as St. Maurice 2 13:1
and many others did, so long as they do not compel us to
fight against God.*
Now let us rule the Church according to this council!
First let us ungird the sword from the emperor and then
command that the whole world is to keep peace and no
one is to begin war, or endure it; for war is forbidden by
the Council of Nicsea on pain of seven years* penance. What
more do we want? The Church is ruled now; we need no
soldiers; the devil is dead; and all the years since the time
of this council have been golden years 4 ; nay, they have been
eternal life itself, in perfect peace, if the council's statute is
right and is to be kept.
But we should have to have good and able painters to
paint this Church for us so that we could see it; or, if we
were blind we should have to have much greater shouters
than the choristers of Halberstadt, so that we could hear it.
Perhaps the penmen could write the letters C-o-u-n-c-i-l
better than we poor Christians, because they have more
colors and make better letters ; but the work is not there,
and we cannot be saved by letters, pictures and shouts. We
must speak differently about this matter, and leave the fet-
ters, the pictures and the shouts to the papists. It will be for
us to live according to the councils and not merely boast of
the letters C-o-u-n-c-i-l ; for we are to be Christians.
You say that the council is to be understood to speak of
those Christians who run after war of their own accord, for
1 See above, p. 150.
2 The story of St. Maurice and the Theban legion is one of the most famcras
legends of the Middle Ages. Maurice was commander of the legion, which is
said to have been exterminated by order of the Emperor Maximian, because
it would not participate in the persecution of Christians; the number of the
martyrs was 6,600. Cf. Realencyk., XII, 452 ff.
* On this whole subject, see this volume, p. 32 ff.
4 Le., Jubilee-years.
158 On the Councils and the Churches
the sake of money, and it is right thus to condemn them.
In God's name ! I am willing to be an ignorant fool and ass
for holding the councils so high ! Interpret it that way, if
you can, and I shall be satisfied ! But tell me this ! Were
you there in the Council of Nicsea, when this article was
adopted, that you can say so certainly that this is its mean-
ing? If not, where have you read this? The article says
drily, de militia, "Of war" ; it says nothing of unjust
wars. It would not have been necessary for the council to
condemn such wars, for they had already been highly con-
demned by reason among all the heathen, who were not
Christians and had no councils.
If a king or prince has to fight and defend himself in a
just war, he has to take what soldiers he can get. But if these
volunteers 1 are condemned, what will become of emperors,
kings and princes, now that there are no soldiers to be had
except volunteers? Tell me, are the lords to fight single-
handed, or weave straw-men to oppose their enemies Ask
the council's advice, whether this is to be done! Yes, good
sir, it is easy to say that a council has given such a command-
ment, when one looks at the letters, as a cow at a door, not
thinking of what goes along with it, or how one can keep
it and live by it! And why have the popes and bishops
themselves not kept it, who have been the cause of so much
war and bloodshed throughout the world, and yet, are
always crying, "Councils, Councils ! Fathers, Fathers !" only
that they themselves act against them and pick out of them
the things that they want us to do?
"Ei, Luther, this way you bring the Council of Nicsea
under suspicion of sedition ! For if we were thus to teach
that the emperor and his soldiers were condemned, even
though they had a just cause, we should rightly be thought
seditious on the basis of our own writings/' I say, how-
ever, that I am now a good conciliarist, and must be ; after
a while I shall say more of this, and explain myself. Now
I say, as I said before, that the council cannot have been
speaking of anything else than regular warfare, as it was
1 Zulaxtf f ende kricger.
On the Councils and the Churches 159
then conducted in the Roman Empire, tinder this same
emperor, Constantine, as under his heathen predecessors.
The foot-soldiers were then known as m i 1 i t e s . They
were settled citizens, who had permanent pay, so that when
the father died, or became too old, the son had to become a
soldier, in his father's stead, 1 and was forced to do so. The
Turks still retain this custom. I have heard it said that
the king of France does practically the same thing in Switz-
erland, and gives pay even to children. 3 If this is true, it is
not an invention.
The horsemen, too, were permanent, hereditary soldiers,
and had their pay. They were called e q u i t e s . These
horsemen were like our nobles, who have to maintain horses
and armor, for which they enjoy their fiefs. Thus the
Roman Empire always had a certain number of both in-
fantry and cavalry, receiving permanent pay. Therefore,
I say that if the council is to be understood rightly, it must
be understood to speak of nothing else than regular war-
fare, because it had to speak of the Roman soldiery, in
which, according to St. Paul's teaching, many Christians
had to serve obediently, men like St. Maurice 8 and his
comrades and Jovinian, Gratian, Valentinian and Theodo-
sius* before they became emperors. But if it was right,
before baptism, to serve heathen emperors in war, why
should it be wrong to render the same service to Christian
emperors, after baptism? 5
Unless, perhaps, religio, in this place, means not the
Christian faith, but monasticism. Then I should be caught,
and according to this council,, I should have to crawl back
again into my cowl, whether I wanted to or not, and I should
not know' how to find St. Peter in heaven, because he was
a fisherman before he was an apostle, and plied his fisher-
man's trade again after he became an apostle, though he
had left it for Christ's sake.
1 THs was not the Roman, custom in imperial days. The Imperial armies
were secured by conscription and voluntary enlistment.
3 This system of "pensions" ^ Switzerland was bitterly assailed by ZwingIL
See JACKSON, U 1 r i c h Zwingli.
8 See above, p. 157.
* All emperors who had distinguished themselves as military leaders.
* The phrases ''before baptism" and "after baptism" probably refer to the
emperors. Cf. Berlin E d , II, 33 n t
VoL V 11.
160 On the Councils and the Churches
Moa- Now suppose, that religio here means monkery,
despite the fact that at that time there were no orders, and
no such monasteries, or monks as today, although monasti-
cism entered soon and rapidly thereafter. St Anthony 1
and his followers lived about that time, and all the monks
call him father and founder. But at this time "monk" meant
what we now call "anchorite* 5 or "hermit," and the Greek
word monachos means solitarius, a "solitary,"
one who lives alone, apart from men, in a woods or a wilder-
ness, or otherwise quite alone. I know of no such monks
now, and there have been none of them for more than
a thousand years, unless, perhaps you would call the poor
prisoners in towers and dungeons monks ; and, sad to say !
they are real monks, for they sit alone, away from men.
The monks of the papacy are more with people and less
alone than any other folk are, for what class or rank in the
world is more among people and less apart from them than
these monks, unless it be claimed that the monasteries, in
city and country, are not among men.
But let us let grammar go and talk of facts. Suppose
that religio here does mean monasticism, as it existed
at that time! Why, then, does this council condemn
militia, i.e., obedience to temporal rulers, and say that
monks, in this obedience, cannot be saved? We could en-
dure it, if monasticism were praised, but when regular
militia is condemned, as though St. Anthony could not
serve the emperor in war with a good conscience, that is too
much. Where would the emperor get his soldiers, if they
all wanted to become monks and allege that they dared not
serve in war? Tell me, good sir, what is the difference
between this doctrine and sedition, especially if we were to
teach it? And yet we know that this self -chosen monkery
is not commanded by God, and obedience is commanded.
If the monks would flee away from men, they ought to
flee honorably and honestly and not leave a stench behind
than ; i.e., they ought not, by their flight, to put a stench upon
other classes and their pursuits, as though these other things
*St. Anthony entered upon the hermit-Hie abotit 270, fifty-five years before
the Council of Nicaa.
On the Councils and the Churches 161
were utterly damnable and their self-chosen monkery must
be pure balsam. For when one flees and becomes a monk,
it sounds as though he were saying, "Pfui ! How the peo-
ple stink ! How damnable is their state ! I will be saved,
and let them go to the devil!" If Christ had fled thus and
become such a holy monk, who would have died for us or
rendered satisfaction for us poor sinners? Would it have
been the monks, with their strict lives of flight?
True, St. John the Baptist was in the wilderness, though
not entirely away from people ; but afterwards, when he had
reached man's estate, he came back among people and
preached. Christ like Moses on Mount Sinai, was forty
days quite apart from men in the wilderness and neither ate
nor drank ; but He, too, came back among the people. Well,
then, let us hold them for hermits and monks if we like;
and yet neither of them condemns paid soldiers as a class, Luke
but John says to them, "Be satisfied with your wages and 3:14
do no one violence or wrong." Christ went to the centurion
at Capernaum, in order to help his servant, who served, be- g : io
yond a doubt, for pay, and Christ does not call his class
lost, but praises his faith above all Israel ; and St. Peter al- Acts
lowed Cornelius, at Csesarea, to remain centurion after his 10:lff *
baptism, together with his servants, who were there in the
pay of the Romans. How much less, then, ought St. An-
thony and his monks to have cast a stench upon this ordi-
nance of God, with his new and peculiar holiness ; since he
was a simple layman, wholly unlearned, and was not a
preacher and held no office in the Church. To be sure, I
believe that he was great before God, as were many others
of his. pupils; but the thing he undertook is full of offense
and dangerous, though he was preserved in it, as the elect
are preserved amid sins and other offenses. Nevertheless,
it is not the example of his life that is to be praised, but the
example and teaching of Christ and John.
Now whether r e 1 i g i o means Christian faith or monk-
ery, it follows from this council that militia, which
was at that time obedience to temporal order, is to be re-
garded as either disobedience to God or as a stinking obedi-
162 On the Councils and the Churches
ence, compared with human, self-chosen monkery. But the
legend of St. Martin 1 indicates that religio meant Chris-
tian faith; for when he desired to become a Christian, he
gave up his hereditary militia, in which his father had
been and in which, when he became too old, he had caused
his son Martin to be enrolled in his place, as the law and
custom of the Roman Empire prescribed. And this act of
his was given an evil interpretation, as though he feared the
enemy and therefore fled away and became a Christian. This
can be read in his legend. Thus it appears that at that time
the notion had already grown up among the people, not
without the preaching of some bishops, that militia was
to be regarded a perilous and damned estate and that one
who would serve God must flee from it. For St. Martin
lived not long after the Council of Nicsea; he was a soldier
under Julian/
If we are to keep this council, or re-establish it, we must
flee with St. Anthony into the wilderness, make monks out
of emperors and kings, and say that they cannot be Chris-
tians or be saved ; or else preach that they live in perilous
and stinking obedience and do not serve God. On the other
hand, if we do not keep this council, we must not keep any.
One is as good as another, for one Holy Ghost rules them
all, and we do not want to have councils in paint or in let-
ters, 5 but real councils that can be followed. But I suspect
that there is a swindle here and that the holy fathers never
adopted this article, because they would certainly have shown
consideration to the emperor Constantine, who had released
them jfrom the tyrants, not with St. Anthony's monkery,
but with war and sword. It looks as Chough the other worth-
less bishops had patched this into the record, or patched it on
at a later time.*
1 ar oi " -*** <*Idt early motiks of
.
'The nephew of Constantine. He was emperor 361-63.
3 Cf. above, p. 155.
. , . .
i, V^A?*^^ Cb ? nca ? N l a ' of tk* ancient Councils in general,
had been handed down in various forms into some of which, forgeries had Wo
f?^S2:V2? no Authentic text in Luther's day. The modern texts have
been established by methods of higher criticism of exactly the kind that Lather
here employs, though his suggestion on this point has not been generaHyaccepted.
On the Councils and the Churches 163
Moreover the same council decrees that the Roman bishop,
according to ancient custom, is to have the suburbicarian
churches commended to him, as the bishop of Alexandria the
the churches in Egypt. I will not and cannot declare what
suburbicariae means, since it is not my word ; but it
sounds as though it meant the churches located, prior to that
time, in Italy, around the Roman churches, just as the
churches in Egypt were around the churches at Alexandria. 1
Interpret it as you will, however, I understand well that this
council does not give the bishop of Rome any lordship over
the surrounding churches, but commends them to him, in
order that he m#y care for them; and it does this, not as
though it had to be, j u r e d i v i n o, a but because of ancient
custom. Custom is not scriptura sacra, however,
or God's Word. Moreover, it takes the churches of Egypt
away from the bishop of Rome, also according to ancient
custom, and commends them to the bishop of Alexandria.
Likewise, it is quite thinkable that the churches in Syria were
commended to the Bishop of Antioch or of Jerusalem, and
not to the Bishop of Rome, since they were situated farther
from Rome than Alexandria or Egypt.
Now if this council is to be valid for our churches and its
decrees go into effect, we must first condemn the bishop of
Rome as a tyrant and burn all his bulls and decretals with
fire. For there is not one bull or decretal in which he does
not boast, with great bellowing and threatening, that he is
the supreme head and lord of all the churches on earth, to
whom everything on earth must be subject in order to be
saved. 8 ' And this is nothing else than to say flatly, "The
Council of Nicsea is false, accursed, and damned, because it
takes from me this lordship over all things, and makes the
Bishop of Alexandria my equal." But the Turk and the
Sultan long ago interpreted this article of the council and
put it out of force, by the destruction of Alexandria/ so
that neither the pope nor we need bother about it. Thus we
* This rests, apparently, on Rufiaus' version of Canon VI. Cf N i c e n e
Fathers XIV, pp. 16 f.
a "By divine right/'
* Almost the- very language o the bull Unam Sanctum o 1302. Cf.
MIJLBT, Quell en. No. 372,
4 Alexandria fell before the Saracens m 641.
164 On the Councils and the Churches
learn that the articles of the council are not all equally per-
manent, and to be kept forever, like articles of faith.
Moreover, this council decrees that those who make them-
cdtt*cy selves eunuchs, because of the. great and unbearable burn-
ing of the flesh, are not to be admitted to clergy or the offices
of the Church. 1 Again, it decrees that the bishops are to
have no women around them" or living with them, except a
mother, sister, aunts (i.e., sisters of mother or father), or
the like near relatives. 3 Here I do not understand the Holy
Ghost at all, as He speaks in this council. Those who make
themselves eunuchs, because of the unbearable burning of
the flesh, are not fit for church offices; and they, too, are
not fit who take or have wives, as a protection against this
I Cor. burning, according to St. Paul's advice, in I Corinthians vii.
7:2 What is intended by this? Is a bishop, or preacher, then,
to stick in this intolerable burning and not be able to rescue
himself from this perilous state, either by making himself a
eunuch or by marrying ? And why command one who has a
wife that he shall not have other women with him? That
is unseemly even for laymen who are married. So, too, the
matter of mother, sisters, aunts, would take care of itself,
if the bishop had a wife; there would be no need of prohi-
bitions. Or has the Holy Ghost nothing else to do in the
councils, than bind and burden His servants with impossible,
perilous, unnecessary laws ?
The histories say that St. Paphnutius,* that important man,
opposed the bishops in this council, when they undertook to
forbid marriage, even to those who had previously taken
wives, and wanted to forbid them to discharge the marriage-
duty, even with their own wives. He advised against it, and
said that if a man discharged the marriage-duty with his own
wife, that, too, was chastity. It is written that he won; but
1 C a n o n I (Nicene Fathers, XTV, p. 8.)
3 Can on III (op. cit, p. 11). This canon does not refer to the mar-
riage of tie clergy, but to the presence in their homes of mulieres
subintrodttctae, i.e., women who were neither wives nor near relatives.
* CASSIODORUS, Historia Tripartita, II, 14. This -work, which Lu-
ther quotes extensively, was the standard Latin textbook in Church History
during the whole Middle Ages. It was composed of excerpts from the Greek
Church historians, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodore*. Of Faphnutius little
is known, save that he was bishop of a city ra JEgypt and a member of the
Council of Nicaea, and that he opposed the prohibition of marriage to the clergy.
On the Councils and the Churches 165
these two decrees sound as though the bishops had gone ahead
and forbidden wives absolutely; for there were also many
unfit and false bisliops along with the good majority in the
council, such as the Arians and their sectaries, as the his-
tories clearly show. Perhaps they had something to do with
it ! But of that more hereafter !
We shall now leave the councils, a little while, and take a
look at the fathers. To be sure, Augustine leads us some-
what astray, because, as said above, 1 he will have none of
the fathers believed, but Tyill have them all in the captivity
and under the compulsion of the Scriptures. Nevertheless,
we shall have a look at them.
St. Cyprian is one of the earliest fathers. He lived long
before the Council of Nicsea, in the time of the martyrs, and Cyp*ian
was himself a celebrated martyr. 3 He taught, and was very
stiff about it, that those baptized by heretics must be rebap- ^
tized. He stuck to this opinion until his martyrdom, al- Heretics
though vigorously admonished by other bishops, and St. Cor-
nelius, 3 bishop of Rome, who was martyred at the same time,
would not hold with him. Later St. Augustine had great
difficulty in excusing him, and had finally to resort to the
idea that this error of his was washed away by the blood
which he shed because of his love of Christ. So saying, St.
Augustine condemns St. Cyprian's doctrine of rebaptism,
which was afterwards repeatedly condemned, and rightly so.
But we might well be happy over Cyprian, because in him
Christ comforts us poor sinners mightily, by showing that
even His great saints must still be human; and, indeed, St.
Cyprian, that great man and beloved martyr, stumbled even
more in other matters, just as plain, of which there is now
no time to speak.
But where do we stand with the fathers who bequeathed
this doctrine to St. Cyprian ? You may read in the E c c 1 e -
siastical History, 4 Book VII, pages one and two,
1 See above, p. 148.
2 He was bishop of Carthage after 248, put to> death because of his faith, in
258. His views on rebaptism are found in MIGNE, 3, 1073 ff. r 1089 ff., 1153 ff.;
Vienna, 3, 698 ff., 778 ff.: A n t e - N i c e n e Fathers, 5, 373 5.
* Cornelius was pope 251-53.
* ETTSEBIUS> E c c 1 . Hist, vii, 4-6.
166 On the Councils and the Churches
what the great bishop Dionysius of Alexandria writes to
hishop Sixtus of Rome, 1 saying that in former times, before
the bishops in Africa did it, it was done by great and im-
portant bishops and was decreed by the Council of Iconium,
and that so important a fact should be considered before the
practice was condemned. Besides, this article stands plainly
in the proceedings of the Nicene Council, that the heretics,
Pattlianists or Photinians, are to be rebaptized; 3 and this
article gives St. Augustine much difficulty in his book O n
Heresies.* He had worried long and much with the
Anabaptists, the Donatists, but for the sake of this decree
of the Nicene Council, he twists out of the difficulty with
words like these: "It is to be believed that the Photinians
did not keep the form of baptism, as other heretics did."
Yes, it is to be believed by anyone who can believe it, when
there is no proof ! The Photinians either had or made an-
other Gospel than the whole Church had, and it is rather to
be believed that they used the common form; for heretics
have always been glad to boast the Scriptures on their side.
Thus Anabaptism will maintain that it is right, against St.
Augustine and all of us, because the Nicene Council and
other councils and fathers before it agree with Cyprian.
Moreover, theCanones apostolorum, the A p o s-
Tfc* tolic Canons,* have now been printed and circulated
Apostolic ky jjjany^ j n order that the Church may again be well ruled.
Among them is this canon : K "The Sacrament and the bap-
tism of the heretics are to be regarded as nothing, but they
are to be rebaptized." It is easy to reckon that if the apos-
tles ordained this, it afterwards came down through the
earlier fathers and councils (as Dionysius says) to St.
1 Sixtus II (2 57-58) j also known as Xystus.
"This canon (C. XIX) is not genuine, but is a later addition to the acts of
the council. The Paulianists and Photinians are the followers of the heretical
bishops, Paul of Samosata (d, 269) and Photintis of Sinrdum (d. 376).
8 In M i g n e , xlii, 34. The Donatists refused to admit the validity of any
acts of clergy who were guilty of mortal sin.
*A collection of alleged decrees of synods, claiming apostolic origin. The
collection was made in the latter part of the fourth or early part of the fifth
century and is closely related to the so-called Apostolic Constitu-
tions. Luther probably knew them in the edition of Merlin, Paris, 1524, or
from the work of Crabbe (above, p. 137, note). See Realencyk., I, 734 ff.
Canon 38.
On the Councils and the Churches 167
Cyprian, and thence to the Council of Nicsea; for Cyprian
was before the Council of Nicsea. If the apostles decreed this,
then St. Cyprian is right and St. Augustine and the whole
Church are overcome, and we with him, for we hold to his
view ; for who will teach contrary to the apostles ? But if
the apostles did not decree it, then these book-writers and
magisters ought all to be drowned and hanged together, be-
cause they spread, print, and write such books under the
apostles' names ; they deserve, too, that no one should believe
any of their books or utterances, since they are always pro-
ducing these books which they themselves do not believe,
and loading them upon us, with the letters C-o-u-n-c-i-K
F-a-t-h-e-r-s. A chorister of Halberstadt could write these
letters better than they, if it were only a matter of the let-
ters, with which they endeavor to make fools of us.
Now if St. Cyprian and the Council of Nioea and others
had this rule of the apostles before them, how shall we har-
monize the fathers ? The apostles and Cyprian want rebap-
tism; St. Augustine and the whole Church afterwards want
to have it considered wrong. Meanwhile, who is preaching
to Christians, until this difference is healed and harmonized?
O yes ! it is good to juggle with councils and fathers, if one
only fools with the letters or postpones a council all the time,
as has happened these last twenty years, 1 and does not con-
sider, meanwhile, what becomes of the souls, who should be
fed with sure teaching, as Christ says in John xxi, P a s c e
oves meas. a zi-.
I excuse St. Cyprian, insofar, at least, as he was not such
an anabaptist as ours now are ; for he held that- there were
no sacraments at all among the heretics and that they must,
therefore, be baptized like other heathen, and the error of
his heart was in thinking that he was not bestowing a second
baptism, but baptizing an unbaptized heathen; for he neither
knows nor holds to a rebaptism, but only one single baptism.
Our anabaptists, however, confess that among us and under
the papacy there is a true baptism, but since it is given or
I n t r o d u'c t i
a "Feed my sheep."
168 On the Councils and the Churches
received by the unworthy, it is no baptism. This St. Cyprian
would not have suffered, much less done.
I have wanted to say t&is, for myself, about the holy mar-
tyr, St. Cyprian, of whom I have a high opinion as regards
his character and faith; for doctrine is subject to the saying
i Tkes.of St. Paid in I Thessalonians v, Omnia probate,
5:21 etc. 1 But we are not now concerned with what I say, but
The with making the fathers agree with one another, so that one
may be sure what and how to preach to poor Christians ; for
here the apostles and Cyprian are not at one with St. Augus-
tine and the Church, on the subject of baptism. If we are
to follow St. Augustine, we must condemn the apostles and
their rules, and the Nicene Council, with the preceding
councils and fathers, and with St. Cyprian; on the other
hand, if St. Cyprian and the apostles are right, then St.
Augustine and the Church are wrong. Who is to preach
and taptize meanwhile, until we are at one in this matter ?
The papists boast the canons of the apostles and councils,
together with the fathers, against us, and some of them are
incorporated in Gratian's Canon Law, as a token. But sup-
pose that the dam were to break, and some of these canons
and councils were found heretical, as this one about rebap-
tism is, who could then prevent the flood from rolling over
us and crying, in its roar, "You lie in everything that you
write, say, print, spit, and shout; no one can believe a word
of it, even though you bring forward councils, fathers, and
apostles in proof of it."
Meanwhile, we cull out of the fathers and councils what
we like ; they what they like ; and we cannot come to agree-
ment, because the fathers are not in agreement any more
than the councils are. Dear sir, who is to preach in the
meantime to the poor souls who know nothing of this cull-
ing and quarreling? Is it feeding Christ's sheep, when we
do not know whether we are giving them grass or poison,
hay or dung? We are to be doubtful and uncertain until
it is settled, and a council decides it ! Ah, what poor provision
Christ made for His Church, if that is the way things were
1 "Prove all tilings; hold fast to that which is good."
On the Councils and the Churches 169
to go ! No, it must go otherwise than we pretend to prove
from councils and fathers; or else there must have been
no Church since the time of the apostles; and this is not pos-
sible, for there stand the words, "I believe one holy, Chris-
tian Church" and "I am with you, even unto the end of the Matt
world." The Man must be called Egoveritas; 1 fathers 28: 20
and councils, compared with Him, must be called O m n i s
homo mendax, 3 if they contradict each other.
I say these things, not for the sake of our own people,
whom I will show, after a while, what councils, fathers, and
Church are, if they do not know it already, which may God
forbid! But I am speaking for the sake of the shouters,
who think nothing else than that we have not read the
fathers and councils. To be sure, I have not read all the
councils, and shall not read them all and lose all that time and
effort, since I have read the four chief councils thoroughly,
better than any of them have done. Also I make bold to
say that, after the four chief councils, I will hold all the
others of small value, even though I would hold some of
them to be good. The fathers, I hope, are better known to
me than to these shouters, who pinch out of them what they
want and let the rest go, because it annoys them. There-
fore we must go at the business another way.
Why do we quarrel? If we would harmonize the sayings p e tcr
of the fathers, let us take up the Magister senten-
t i a r u m . a In this work he was diligent beyond measure
and went far ahead of us ; for he, too, -had this same diffi-
culty with the lack of agreement in the fathers and wanted
to remedy it, and, in my opinion, he did it better than we
would. In no council, nor in all the councils, and in none
of the fathers will you find as much as in the book of
Sentences. The fathers and councils deal with some
points of Christian doctrine, but none of them deals with
them all, as this man does; at least he deals with most of
them. But concerning the real articles, faith and justifica-
tion, what he says is too thin and weak, though he gives
! "I am the truth." a "Every man a liar." Cf. Rom 3:4.
8 Peter Lombard (d. 1164). His Four Books of Sentences Was
the great Geological textbook of the Middle Ages and the basis of most of the
great systems of scholastic theology.
170 On the Councils and the Churches
high enough praise to the grace of God. As was said above, 1
we can allow that Gratian has worked for us at the harmon-
izing of the councils, in which he went to great pains; but
his teaching is not as pure as that of the M a g i s t e r
sententiarum, for he gives too much to the Roman
bishop and applies everything to him; otherwise he would,
perhaps, have done better with the harmonizing of the coun-
cils than we now could do.
If anyone would see still farther that the dear holy fathers
were men, let him read the little book on the four chapters
to the Corinthians by Dr. Pommer, 3 our pastor. From it
he must learn that St. Augustine was right, when he said
Noli m e i s etc., as we said above, 8 viz., that he will not
believe any of the fathers unless he has the Scriptures on
his side. Dear Lord God! If the Christian faith were to
depend on men, and be founded in human words, what were
the need for the Holy Scriptures, or why has God given
them? Let us throw them under the bench and lay the
councils and the fathers on the desk instead! Or, if the
fathers were not men, how shall we men be saved ? If they
were men, they must also have thought, spoken, and acted
sometimes as we think, speak and act, and then said, like us,
the prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses" ; especially since they
have not the promise of the Spirit, like the apostles, and
must be pupils of the apostles.
If the Holy Ghost had been so silly as to expect or trust
ftgft fa t councils and fathers would do everything well and
Scrip- make no mistakes, He would have had no need to warn His
tar Church, before their time, that it should prove and examine
all things and that men would build straw, hay, wood on the
i Cor. foundation. By this He foretells, not privately and feebly,
3:12 but publicly and mightily, that in the holy Church there
would be some builders of wood, straw, hay, i.e., teachers,
who, although they would stay on the foundation, would
suffer loss by fire, but would have to be saved. This cannot
* See above, p. 143 f.
*Joim Btigenliagen, known as Pomerantis, from the place of his origin. His
Commentary on Four Chapters of the First Epistle to
the Corinthians 'was published in 1550.
*Seep. 148.
On the Councils and the Churches 171
be understood to mean the heretics, for they lay another
foundation, but these stay on the foundation, i.e., in the faith
of Christ, are saved, and are called God's saints, and yet they
have hay, straw, wood, which must be burned by the fire of
Holy Scripture, though without injury to their salvation.
So St. Augustine says of himself, Errare potero;
hereticus non e r o , "I can err, but I shall not be a
heretic/' for the reason that heretics not only err, but will
not let themselves be corrected, defend their error as though
it were right, and strive against known truth and their own
consciences. Of them St. Paul says, in Titus iii, "A heretic *Bt. 3:io
shalt thou avoid, after one or two admonitions, and know
that such a one is perverted and sins aut okatakr i tos ,
i.e., he remains condemned in obstinate and conscious error.
But St. Augustine will confess his error willingly and allow
himself to be told of it; therefore he cannot be a heretic,
even though he were guilty of error. All the other saints
do likewise and are willing to put their hay, straw, and
wood into the fire, so that they may stay on the foundation
of salvation, as we have done, and still do.
Accordingly, since it cannot be otherwise with the fathers,
I speak of the holy and good ones, and when they build
without the Scriptures, i.e., without gold, silver, precious
stones, they have to build wood, straw and hay; therefore
we must follow the judgment of St. Paul, and know how to
distinguish between gold and wood, silver and straw, precious
stones and hay. We must not let ourselves be forced by
these unprofitable shouters to think wood and gold one and
the same thing, silver and straw one thing, emeralds and hay
one thing. We ought to ask them (if it could be done) that
they first make themselves so clever as to take wood for
gold, straw for silver, hay for pearls. Until then they ought
to spare us, and not ascribe to us such folly or childishness.
All of us ought also to observe this wonderful thing about
the Holy Ghost, He willed to give the world all the books
of Holy Scripture, both of the Old and New Testaments,
out of the people of Abraham and through his seed, and He
would not have one of them written by us Gentiles, any
172 On the Councils and the Churches
more than He would choose the prophets and apostles from
Rom. 3:2 among the Gentiles. So St. Paul says, in Romans iii, "The
Jews h^Lve the great advantage that the speech of God was
PS. 147: entrusted to them" ; and Psalm cxlvii says, "He made known
19 His speech to Jacob and His laws to Israel" ; He hath not
.. hn done so to any Gentiles ; and Christ Himself says, in John
4:22 iv, "We know that salvation has come from the Jews" ; and
Romans ix says, "Yours are the promise, the fathers, the
Rom. 9:4 law and Christ."
Therefore we Gentiles must not consider the writings of
our fathers equal to Holy Scripture, but a little lower; for
they are the children and heirs, we the guests and strangers,
Matt. who have come to the children's table by grace, without any
15:27 promise. Nay, we ought to thank God with humility and,
like the Gentile woman, desire nothing more than to be the
dogs who gather up the crumbs that fall from the master's
table. As it is we go ahead and want to lift our fathers and
ourselves up to the level of the apostles, not thinking that
God might rather break us also to pieces, since He did not
Rom. spare the natural branches, Abraham's seed, or heirs, because
11:21 of their unbelief. Yet the accursed abomination at Rome
wants to have power even over the apostles and prophets,
and alter the Scriptures to suit himself ! Therefore Augus-
tine is right, when he writes to St. Jerome, as was said
above, 1 "I do not believe, dear brother, that you would have
your writings considered equal to the books of the apostles
and prophets; God forbid that you should desire such a
thing!"
Then, too, there is no council or father in which you can
find, or from which you can learn, the whole of Christian
Da Not doctrine. So the Nicene Council deals only with the doc-
trine that Christ is true God ; the Council of Constantinople,
that the Holy Ghost is God; the Council of Ephesus, that
Christ is not two Persons, but one ; the Council of Chalcedon,
that Christ has not one nature, but two, deity and humanity.
These are the four great, chief councils, and they have
nothing more for us than these points, as we shall hear ; but
On the Councils and the Churches 173
this is not the whole doctrine of Christian faith. St. Cyprian
discusses how one is to suffer and die, firm in faith, rebaptizes
heretics, and rebukes bad morals and the women. 1 St. Hilary*
defends the Council of Nicaea and its statement that Christ
is true God and discusses the Psalms a little. St. Jerome
praises virginity- and the hermits. St. Chrysostom teaches
prayer, fasting, almsgiving, patience, etc. St. Ambrose con-
tains much, but St. Augustine most of all, and therefore the
Magister sententiarum takes most material from
him.
In short, you may put them all together, both fathers and
councils, and you cannot cull the whole doctrine of Christian
faith out of them, though you keep on culling forever. If
the Holy Scriptures had not made and preserved the Church,
it would not have remained long because of the councils and
fathers. As evidence let me ask, "Whence do the fathers
and councils get" what they teach and discuss ? Think you
that they were first discovered in their time or that the Holy
Ghost was always giving them something new? How did
the Church exist before these councils and fathers? Or
were there no Christians before the rise of the councils and
fathers? We must, therefore, speak differently of the coun-
cils and fathers, and look, not at the letters, but the meaning.
Let this suffice for the first part of this book! Let us
catch our breath !
1 These are the subjects of some of his best-known writings.
a Hilary of Poitiers, "the Athanasius of the West," died 367.
PART II
^ First, Concerning the Councils. The
of in- word concilium gives us stupid folk immeasurable
terpre* difficulties, even more than the words "fathers" and
tattoo "Church/* I would not be a judge and master here, but
only express my ideas; if anyone else can do better, I wish
him grace and luck. Amen.
I take up the saying of St. Hilary's De trinitate, 1
Ex causis dicendis summenda est intelli-
gentia dictorum, i.e., "He who will understand what
is said must see why or for what reasons it is said." Sic
ex causis agendi cognoscuntur acta. 3 The
natural reason teaches the same thing, but I will give a
homely illustration of it. If one peasant accuses another
and says, "Sir judge, this man calls me a knave and a
rascal," these words and letters, by themselves, convey
the idea that the accuser is suffering great wrong and that
these things are false, and mere lies. But if the defendant
comes and gives the reason for these words, and says,
"Sir judge, he is a knave and a rascal, for he was
beaten out of the town of N. with rods, because of his ras-
cality and it was only with difficulty, by the request of good
men, that he was kept from hanging, and he is trying to
cheat me here in my own house"; then the judge will get
a new understanding of the words, as daily experience in
government shows. Before one learns the reason for what
is said, it is only words and letters, or choristers' shouts, 8 or
nuns* songs.
tfefo So Christ says to. Peter, "What thou bindest on earth
16:19 shall be bound in heaven, and what thou loosest shall be
loosed." The pope takes these letters and goes with them into
the land of the lotus-eaters, and interprets them thus : "What
I do in heaven and earth is right ; I have the keys to bind and
loose everything." Yes, even if we had eaten beets !* But if
one looks at the reasons, one finds that Christ is speaking of
1 Luther was apparently quoting from memory, Hilary's De trinitat*.
ir, 2. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 547, note a,
* **So acts are known by the causes of action."
*See above, p. 15S.
* Probably a proverb. The allusion is vulgar.
(174)
On the Councils and the Churches 175
the binding and loosing of sin. The keys are keys to the
kingdom o heaven, into which no one enters except through
forgiveness of sin, and from which no one is excluded
except those who are bound because of an impenitent life.
Thus the words do not concern St. Peter's power, but the
need of miserable sinners, or of proud sinners ; but of these
keys the pope makes two master-keys to all kings' crowns
and treasuries, to all the world's purse, body, honor, and
goods. Like a fool he looks at the letters, and pays no
heed to the reasons.
Thus there are many sayings in the Scriptures which,
taken literally are contradictory, but if the causes are shown,
everything is right. I believe, too, that the medical men and
the jurists find a very great deal of this in their books also,
like what I said above about the judge. What, indeed, is
the whole life of man, except mere antilogiae, or
"contradictions," until one hears the causes. My antilogists,
therefore, are great, fine, pious sows and asses. They collect
my antilogies 1 and let the causes alone; nay, they darken the
causes diligently, as though I could not also put forward an-
tilogies, out of their books, which are not to be reconciled by
any reasons. But enough of this! They are not worth so
many words.
We take up now the Council of Nicsea. It came into exis-
tence for this reason. The noble Emperor Constantine had
become a Christian and had given the Christians peace from
their tyrants and persecutors. His faith was so great and for the
earnest and his intentions were so heartily good, that he ^ Hma
overthrew his own brother-in-law, Licinius, to whom he NScaa,
had given his sister, Constantia, and whom he had made co-
emperor, 1 and deposed him because, after many admoni-
tions, he would not desist from his shameful persecution
of Christians.
Now when this fine emperor had made this peace for the
Christians and done everything for their good, furthered
the churches every way he could, and was so secure that
he had the intention to go to war, outside the Empire, with
1 ue., Ccmtradicticra*.
Vol. V 12.
176 On the Councils and the Churches
the Persians : into this fair and peaceful paradise and peace-
ful time, came the old serpent and raised up Arius, a priest
of Alexandria, against his bishop. He wanted to bring up a
new doctrine against the old faith and be a big man ; he at-
tacked his bishop's doctrine, saying that Christ was not
God; many priests and great, learned bishops lapsed to him
and the trouble grew in many lands, until, at last, Arius ven-
tured to declare that he was a martyr, saying that he was
suffering for the truth's sake at the hands of his bishop,
Alexander, who was not satisfied with this teaching and
was writing scandalous letters against him to all countries.
When this came to the good emperor's attention, he acted
like a wise prince, and wanted to quench the flames before
the fire became any greater. He wrote a letter to both
Bishop Alexander and Priest Arius, and admonished them
so kindly and earnestly that nothing better could have been
written. He told them that, with great difficulty, he had
made peace in the Empire for the Christians, and they ought
not now to start contention among themselves. It would be
a great stumbling-block to the heathen, and they would,
perhaps, fall away from the faith again (as indeed hap-
pened, and he complains of it), and he would be prevented
from moving against the Persians. In short, it is a humble
Christian letter from so great an emperor to these two men.
In my opinion, it is almost too humble ; for knowing my own
rough pen, I know that I could never have brought so hum-
ble a composition out of my ink-bottle, especially if I had
been an emperor, and such an emperor.
This letter did not help, however. Arius had, by this
time, gained a large following and wanted to go through
headlong against his bishop. The good emperor did not
desist either. He sent a personal ambassador, a great bishop,
famous throughout the world, Hosius of Cordova in Spain,
to Egypt, to the two in Alexandria, in order to settle the
case. That did not help, either, and the fire spread as when
a forest burns. Then the good emperor did the last thing
possible. He had the best and most famous bishops gath-
ered from all lands ; commanded that they were to be brought
On the Councils and the Churches 177
to Nicsea by the imperial asses, horses and mules ; and hoped
through them, to settle the case peaceably. Truly, there
assembled there many fine bishops and fathers; especially
famous were Jacobus of Nisibis 1 and Paphnutius of Ptole-
mais 3 who had suffered great affliction tinder Licinius and
done miracles; but there were also some Arian bishops
among them, like mouse-dirt in the pepper.
The emperor was happy and hoped that the case would
end well, and he entertained them honorably and well. Then
some of them went ahead and brought the emperor schedules
of accusation, telling what one bishop had against another;
and they asked the emperor's decision. But he rejected them;
he had nothing to do with the quarrels of the bishops, but
only wanted a true judgment of this article about Christ
and had not summoned the council because of their conten-
tions. When they would not desist, he bade that all the
schedules be brought to him, and read none of them, but
threw them all into the fire. And yet he sent them away
with kind words, saying that he could not be judge o those
whom God had set as judges over him, and admonishing
them to take hold of the chief matter. That is my idea of
a wise, gentle, patient prince; another would have been
angry at such bishops, and knocked the cask to pieces. At
the same time, he showed what was in his mind, when he
burned their petitions, without regard to their episcopal dig-
nity, and so reminded them of their childish conduct, since
they had been called together on a far more important
matter.
When the council began, he sat down among the bishops
on a chair lower than theirs* The bishop of Rome, Sylves-
ter, was not present, but, as some say, he had sent two
priests. After the bishop of Antioch, Eustathius, who pre-
sided at the council, had thanked the emperor and praised
him for his kindnesses, the doctrine of Anus was publicly
read, for it seems that he was not present,* being neither a
*A celebrated opponent o Arianism (d. 338). See Religion in Ge-
schichte and Gegenwart, III, 243.
a See above, p. 164.
Both the Tri partita and Rufinus, Lather's chief sources, indicate that
Arias was present.
178 On the Councils and the Churches
bishop nor a bishop's representative. It was to the effect
that Christ was not God, but was created and made by God,
as the histories further record. Then the holy fathers and
bishops rose from their chairs in indignation and tore the
schedule to pieces, and said it was not true. Thus Arius
was publicly condemned by the council with great indigna-
tion. So deeply were the fathers hurt and so intolerable
was it for them to hear the blasphemy of this Arius ! All
the bishops signed this condemnation, even the Arian bish-
ops, though they did it with a false heart, as afterwards
appeared, except two bishops from Egypt, who did not sign.
Then the emperor dissolved the council that very day, and
he and the council wrote letters throughout the world about
this action ; and the Emperor Constantine was heartily glad
that the case was settled and disposed of, and treated them
most kindly, especially those who had suffered persecution.
From this it is easy to see why the council came together
and what it had to do ; namely, preserve the ancient article
!. of faith, that Christ is true God, against the new wisdom of
Arius, who wanted, on the basis of reason, to alter and
condemn it; and he was himself condemned. The council
did not discover this article or set it up as something that
of Faith, was new and had not existed in the Church before, but only
defended it against the heresy of Arius. This appears in
the fact that the fathers were impatient and tore up the
schedule, thus confessing that since the days of the apostles,
they had learned and taught another doctrine in their
churches. Otherwise what would have become of the Chris-
tians who, frefore the council, for more than three hundred
years, since the days of the apostles, had believed and had
prayed to the dear Lord Jesus and called upon Him as true
God, and had died for it and been miserably persecuted?
I must point this out in passing. For the pope's syco-
phants have fallen into such gross folly as to think that the
councils have the power and right to set up new articles of
Artie*** faith and to change old ones. That is not true, and we Chris-
tians ought to tear up their schedules also. No councils
hare done it or can do it," for articles of faith must not
On the Councils and the Churches 179
grow on earth, by means of the councils, as from some new,
private inspiration, but they must be given and revealed from
heaven by the Holy Ghost ; otherwise they are not articles of
faith, as we shall hear later. So this Council of Nicsea, as I
have said, did not invent this article that Christ is God or set
it up as a new thing, but it was done by the Holy Ghost, who
came from heaven upon the apostles publicly, on the day of
Pentecost, and through the Scriptures revealed Christ as true
God, as He had promised to the apostles. From the apos-
tles it remained, and came down to this council, and so on
down to us ; and it will remain till the end of the world, as
He says, "Lo, I am with you unto the end of the world."
If we had nothing with which to defend this article except
this council, we should be in a bad way, and I myself should
not believe the council, but say, "They are men." But St.
John the Evangelist and St. Paul, Peter and the other apos-
tles hold firm and give us a good foundation and defense, for
to them it was revealed by the Holy Ghost, publicly given
from heaven, and from them the Church had it, before this
council, and the council, too, had it from them. Both before
the council, when Arius first began, and in the council and
after the council, they defended themselves hard with the
Scriptures, especially with St. John's Gospel, and disputed
sharply, as the books of Athanasius and Hilary bear wit-
ness. So, too, the Historia Tripartita 1 says, iti
Book v, chapter 29, "At Nicsea the faith was grounded on
the Scriptures of the apostles." Otherwise, if the Holy
Scriptures of the prophets and apostles had not done it,
the mere words of the council would do nothing and its deci-
sions accomplish nothing.
This article, then, concerning the deity of Christ, is the
main thing about this council, nay, it is the whole council.
It was the reason for the calling of the council, and on the
day that it was adopted, as I said, the c6uncil was dissolved,
Om aiK>fcfaer day, however, when the Emperor Constantine
is mot repotted to have been present, they came together again
and discussed other matters, which concerned the external,
p. 164, note.
180 On the Councils and the Churches
temporal government of the Church. Among them, beyond
doubt, were the things contained in the schedules that Con-
stantine had previously thrown into the fire, when he would
not be a judge; therefore they had to come together and
settle these things for themselves, without the emperor.
The greater part of them is merely priests' quarreling:
there are not to be two bishops in one city ; no bishop of a
small church is to be ambitious for a greater one; clerics,
or servants of a church, are not to leave their own church
and slip hither and thither among other churches ; no one is
to ordain the people of any bishop without his kowledge and
consent ; no bishop is to accept a man who has been expelled
by another bishop; the bishop of Jerusalem is to retain his
ancient privilege of dignity above others 1 ; and more of that
kind of talk. Who can hold these things for articles of
faith? What of them can one preach to the people in the
Church? What difference do these things make to Church
or people? Unless, of course, they are to be treated as a
history from which one can learn that at that time, too, there
were everywhere in the Church self-willed, wicked, dis-
orderly bishops, priests, clergy, and people, who were more
concerned about honors and power and wealth than about
God and His kingdom, and that people needed to be on their
guard against them.
It is easy to reckon that Constantine did not assemble the
council because of these things, or he would have done it
even before the Arian misery began. Why should he worry
about how these things were done? They were all things
that the bishops had to control for themselves, each in his
own church, as they had done before and as the articles
themselves declare. It would have been a sin and a shame to
assemble so great a council for such little matters ; for our
human reason, which God has given us, is sufficient for the
ordering of these external things, and there is no need for the
Holy Ghost, who is to reveal Christ, to turn aside into these
matters, which are subject to the reason ; unless, of course,
one wants to call everything that Christian people do, even
1 These are the subjects of the canons of Nicaca. CL Nicenc Fathers.
XIV, pp*. 8 &
On the Councils and the Churches 181
eating and drinking, the work of the Holy Ghost. Other-
wise the Holy Ghost, because of His teaching, must have
other things to do than these external works, subject to the
reason.
Moreover all of those who were at this council were not
good men ; they were not all Paphnutii, Jacobs, and Eustathii.
Seventeen Arian bishops were counted among them, though
they had to bow and dissemble before the others. The
History of Theodoret 1 says there were twenty articles, 3
Rufinus makes them twenty-three. Now whether the Arians
or others afterwards added to the number or subtracted
from them or set up other articles (for the one which St.
Paphnutius is said to have prevented, concerning the wives
of priests, is not included) I cannot say. I do know, how-
ever, that all these articles have been long dead and buried
in the books and gone to decay ; also that they can never rise
again, as Constantine meant and prophesied by his action
when he threw them into the fire and burned them. For they
are not kept and cannot be kept. It was building hay, straw,
wood (as St. Paul says) on the foundation; therefore, in r
time, the fire consumed them, as other temporal, transient
things pass away. But if they had been articles of faith or
commandments of God, they would have remained, like the
article concerning the deity of Christ.
And yet, among these wooden articles, there is one in
which a spark of fire has remained until now. It is the Th
article about the Easter date. 8 To be sure, we do not keep
this article quite correctly, as the mathematicians or astrono-
mers prove to us, since the equinox in our time is quite dif-
ferent than in that time/ and our Easter is often kept too
late in the year. In ancient days, right after the apostles, the
dispute over the Easter date began, and the bishops made
heretics of one another and excommunicated one another over
1 One of the sources of the Tripartita.
9 i.e., Canons, or decisions.
*The agreement on the Roman Easter date is not embodied in the canons of
the Council, but announced in the Synodal Letter. (Nicene Fathers, XIV,
p, 54.)
* Until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (1582) the eouinox was
moving forward at the rate of one day in 128 years. See Encycl, Brit.
(14th eC>, 4 569 ff.
182 On the Councils and the Churches
such little, unnecessary matters, until it was a sin and a
shame. Some wanted to keep it, like the Jews, on a certain day
according to the law of Moses ; the rest, in order not to be
considered Jewish, wanted to keep the Sunday after. The
bishop of Rome, Victor, about a hundred and eighty years
before this council, 1 who also became a martyr, excommuni-
cated all the bishops and churches in Asia, because they did
not keep Easter as he did ; so early did the Roman bishops
grasp at majesty and power! But Irenseus,* bishop of
Lyons, in France, who had known Polycarp, 3 a disciple of
St. John the Evangelist, rebuked him and quieted the case,
so that Victor had to be content. Therefore Constantine had
to take up this matter and help settle it in the council ; and he
decreed that the same Easter date should be kept through-
out the world ; see the T r i p a r t i t a , book ix, chapter 38.
Now there is need for a reformation ; the calendar should
be corrected and Easter put farther back, where it belongs.
But no one can do this except their high majesties, the em-
perors and kings. They would have to agree to send out a
command to all the world at the same time, saying when
Easter should henceforth be kept. Otherwise, if one land
were to begin without another, and worldly trade, such as
yearly markets, fairs, and other business, were to be gov-
erned by the present date, the people of that land would get
to the markets of another land at the wrong" time and there
would be a wild confusion and disturbance in affairs of every
kind. But it would be a fine thing, and easy to do, if their
high majesties would do it, since it has all been finely worked
out by the astronomers, and all that is needed is a decree or
command. Meanwhile we keep the glimmering ember of
the Nicene Council, that Easter remains on a Sunday,
though the time see-saw as it may. These are called f e s t a
m o b i 1 i a*; I call them see-saw festivals, 5 for Easter, with
its dependent festivals, changes every year, coming now
1 Victor waa
'IraawQs was bishop of Lyons after 177.
1 PoJyoarp, bishop o Smyrna, died as a martyr in 155.
* Movable festivals.
On the Councils and the Churches 183
early, now late in the year, and does not stay fixed, like
other festivals, upon a certain day.
This see-sawing of the festivals comes about because the
ancient fathers (as I said), right at the beginning, wanted
to keep Easter at the time that Moses established, viz., in the
full moon of March nearest the equinox; and yet they did
not want to judaize entirely, or keep Easter, with the Jews,
on the day of the full moon; therefore, as Christians, they
let the law of Moses go and took the Sunday after the full
moon of March. So it happened last year, 1538, that the
Jews kept their Easter on the Saturday after Invocavit, 1 as
our churches call it; that was five weeks before we kept
Easter. Now the Jews laugh at that and make fun of us
Christians, saying that we do not keep Easter right, and
do not even know how to keep it right. Thus they strengthen
themselves in their unbelief. That irritates our people, so
that they would gladly see the calendar corrected by the
high majesties, since without their co-operation it is not
possible, still less advisable.
In my opinion, however, the thing has happened with
Easter that Christ speaks of in Matthew ix, "If one patches Matt -
an old coat with new cloth, the rent becomes worse; and if
one puts new wine into old, bad casks, the old hoops are
sprung and the new wine leaks out." They want to keep
one piece of the old law of Moses ; namely, that the March
full moon is to be observed: that is the old coat. Then, as
Christians, freed by Christ from the law of Moses, they do
not want to be subject to the day o the full moon, but would
have the following Sunday instead : that is the new patch on
the old coat. Therefore the endless contention and the
endless see-sawing have made so much trouble in the Church,
and must do so till the end of the world, and there can be
neither measure nor end to the books about it. Christ has had
special reasons for permitting this and letting it go on, for
He always proves His strength in weakness, and teaches tis
to recogmize how weak we are.
How much better it would have been, if they had let
* The first Smfoy of Lent.
184 On the Councils and the Churches
Moses* Easter law die altogether and had kept none of the
old coat at all! For Christ, toward whom this law was
directed, has clean abolished it by His Passion and Resur-
rection ; He slew it and buried it forever, rent the veil of the
Temple in twain, and then broke and destroyed Jerusalem,
with priesthood, princedom, law, and everything. Instead,
they should have noted the days of the Passion, the Burial,
and the Resurrection, reckoned by the sun, and set a fixed
date in the calendar, as they did with Christmas, New Year,
the Day of the Holy Kings, 1 Candlemas, 3 the Annunciation, 8
the Feast of St. John, 4 and other days, which are called fixed
festivals, not see-saw festivals. Then it would have been
known for certain, every year, when Easter must come, and
the festivals that depend on it, without this great bother and
disputation.
Nay, you say, Sunday must be held in honor because of
Christ's Resurrection, and it is called dies dominica, 5
on that account, and Easter must be put on it, because Christ
rose on the day after the Sabbath, which we now call Sat-
urday. That is, indeed, an argument that moved them ; but
dies dominica does not mean Sunday, but "Lord's
Day, 5 * and why could not any day on which Easter had
come be called dies dominica, "the Lord's Day"?
Is not Christmas also dies dominica, "Lord's Day,"
i.e., the day on which the Lord's special act, His birth, was
done; and yet it does not come, every year, on Sunday? It
is called Christ's Day, 8 i.e., the Lord's Day, even if it comes
on Friday, for the reason that it has a fixed letter in the
calendar, reckoned by the sun. In the same way, Easter,
too, could have a fixed letter T in the calendar, whether it
came on Friday or Wednesday, as is the case with Christ-
mas. That way we should be well rid of the law of Moses,
with its March full moon. No one asks today whether the
1 Egipbany, Jan. 6.
3 Ptarntcation of Mary (Presentation of our Lord), FeK 2.
March 25.
* St. John tbe Baptist, Jme 24.
* 'The Lord's Day."
Gernan, Ckriattag.
T In the calendar of Luther's time, each day Bad a letter. Beginning January
l r ttr k#er* ran from A to G, and repeated.
On the Councils and the Churches 185
moon Is full or not on Christmas, but we stick to the days
reckoned by the sun without reckoning by the moon.
It might be argued that, since the equinox holds its place,
but the year, in the calendar, is too late and does not keep
pace with it, the equinox would be farther and farther from,
a fixed Easter day, as it would also be farther and farther
from the Day of St. Philip and St. James,* and from other
festivals. What do we Christians care if our Easter came
on the Day of St. Philip and St. James, which will not
happen, I hope, before the end of the world? Moreover,
we hold all days as Easter days, with our preaching and our
faith in Christ, and it is enough that Easter be kept once in
a year on a special day, as a plain and public and perceptible
reminder, not only because one can then discuss the history
of the Resurrection more diligently before the people, but
also in order that people may arrange their business affairs
according to the season of year, just as we have the seasons
of St. Michael, 3 St. Martin, 8 St. Catherine,* St. John/ Sts.
Peter and Paul, 6 etc.
But the possibility of making this arrangement has long
been denied us, even from the beginning, because the fathers
did not do it. The old coat has stayed, along with its big
rent, and it may continue to ^6ay this way till the Last Day.
Things are going toward their end, and if the old coat has
stood the patching and tearing for around fourteen hundred
years, It can stand the patching and tearing for another hun-
dred; for I hope that everything will soon have an end.
Easter has now been see-sawing for about fourteen hun-
dred years, and it may keep on see-sawing for the short
time that is left, since no one will do anything about it, and
those who would like to do something cannot.
I am indulging in this long and needless talk, only so that
I may have expressed my opinion, in case any of the sects
were, in time, to be bold enough to move the Easter festi-
val to another date than that which we now observe. And
1 May 1. * Nor. II. * June 24.
29. * Nov 26. * Jtme 29.
186 On the Councils and the Churches
I believe that if the Anabaptists had been learned enough in
astronomy to understand this matter, they would have
rushed in headlong and, after the fashion of sects, have
wanted to bring something new into the world, and keep
Easter differently from the rest of the world. But since
they are unlearned in the sciences, the devil has not been
able to use them as that kind of instrument or tool.
Therefore my advice is to let it alone and let it be kept as
it now is, and patch and tear the old coat, and let Easter
see-saw back and forth until the Last Day, or until the
monarchs agree to change it together, in view of these facts.
It breaks no one's legs and St. Peter's boat will not be hurt
by it, since it is neither heresy nor sin, but only a solecism,
or error, in astronomy, which serves the temporal govern-
ment rather than the Church, though the ancient fathers, in
ignorance, thought otherwise arid made heretics of one an-
other and excommunicated one another over it. If the Jews
laugh at us, thinking that we do this in ignorance, we laugh
back still more, because they keep their Easter so stiffly and
so vainly, not knowing that Christ fulfilled it all fifteen hun-
dred years ago, abolished it and destroyed it. What we do
is done wilfully and knowingly, and not in ignorance. We
know better than they how Easter should be kept according
to the law of Moses, but we will not and ought not keep it
so, for we have the Lord of Moses and of all things, and He
says, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." How much
more is He Lord of Easter and Pentecost, which, in the law
of Moses, are less than the Sabbath, for the Sabbath is on
the tables of Moses, 1 while Easter and Pentecost are else-
4:io where than on the tables. Moreover, we have St. Paul, who
flatly forbids anyone to be bound to the holidays, feasts and
2:16 anniversaries of Moses.
Therefore it is t and ought to be, in our power and free-
dom to keep Easter when we will ; and even though we made
a Sunday of a Friday or vice versa, nevertheless it would
be right, so long as it were done in agreement by the rulers
1 ie., The two tables,, the Decalog.
On the Councils and the Churches 187
and the Christians, as I have said. Moses is dead and buried
through Christ, and days or times ought not be lords over
Christians, but Christians are free lords over days and
times, to fix them as they will, or as seems right to them.
Christ made all things free when He abolished Moses ; only
we let things remain as they are, since there is no peril,
error, sin, or heresy in it, and we would not change anything
needlessly or at our own individual whim, because of others
who also hold to Easter as well as we. We know that we
can be saved without Easter and Pentecost, Sunday and Fri-
day, and that we cannot be damned because of Ea&ter, Pen-
tecost, Sunday, or Friday, as St. Paul teaches us.
But to come back to the council, I say that we make too
much of this chip of the Nicene Council, and the pope
afterwards made it not only gold, silver, precious stones, but
even a foundation, i.e., an article of faith, without which we
cannot be saved, and they all call it a commandment and an
act of obedience to the Church; thus they are far worse than
the Jews. The Jews have on their side the text of Moses,
commanded at that time by God; but these people have on
their side only their own opinions. They go ahead and want
to make a new coat out of Moses' old rags. They allege that
they are keeping Moses, and yet their case is nothing but a
story, or dream, about Moses, who has been dead so long,
and was buried, as the Scriptures say, by God Himself
i.e., by Christ, so that no one has found his grave; they
would conjure up Moses before our eyes, as though he were
alive, and do not see that (as St Paul says in Galatians v) GO,
if they keep one part of Moses, they must keep the whole of
Moses. Therefore, if they consider it necessary to keep Eas-
ter in the month of March, as a part of his law, they must
also keep the whole law of the paschal lamb and become mere
Jews and keep, with the Jews, a bodily paschal lamb; if not,
they must let it all go, the full moon, too, with all the rest
of Moses, or at least, they must not consider it necessary to
salvation, like an article of faith. And this is what I believe
that the fathers, especially the best of them, did in this
council
188 On the Councils and the Churches
This council, then, dealt chiefly with the article that
Christ is true God. It was for this that it was summoned
and because of this it is called a council. Beside this, they
dealt with certain accidental, physical, external, temporal
matters, which it is right to consider worldly, not compar-
able with the articles of faith, and not to be kept as a per-
manent law, for they have passed and fallen out of use. The
council had to arrange these bodily matters also, for at their
time they were appropriate and necessary ; but they no longer
concern us, in our time, at all, and it is neither possible nor
profitable for us to keep them. As an evidence, it is false
and wrong that heretics are to be rebaptized, and yet this
article was established by the fathers themselves 1 and not
patched in by the Arians or the other worthless bishops.
Thus the Council of Jerusalem,* also, beside the main
points, had to dispose of some non-essential, external arti-
cles, which were necessary at that time, about blood, things
strangled, and idolatry ; but not with the intention that this
should remain in the Church as a permanent law, like an
article of faith, for it has fallen. Why should we not take
a look at this council, too, and see how it is to be under-
stood by the causes that forced it into existence?
This was the cause of it. The Gentiles, who were con-
verted by Barnabas and Paul, had, by the Gospel, received
the Holy Ghost, as well as the Jews, and yet they were not
under the law, like the Jews. Then the Jews insisted
council stron g]y t^t the Gentiles must be circumcised and bidden
to keep the law of Moses, or they could not be saved. These
were hard, sharp, heavy words, they could not be saved
without the law of Moses and circumcision. The Pharisees
who had become believers in Christ insisted on this more
than the others, according to Acts xv. Then the apostles
and elders came together about this matter, and when they
had disputed much and sharply, St. Peter rose and preached
the powerful and beautiful sermon of Acts xv, 7-11,
**Dear brethren, ye know how that God chose that through
*Cf. above, p. 166.
a With this whole section comjfeire above, pp. 150 ff.
On the Councils and the Churches 189
my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel
and believe; and God, the knower of hearts, bare them wit-
ness and gave them the Holy Ghost, even as unto us, and
made no difference between us and them, and purified their
hearts by faith. Why, then, do ye now tempt God by laying
a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that
through the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,
in like manner as they."
This sermon sounds almost as though St. Peter were
angry and displeased at the hard words of the Pharisees,
who said that they could not be saved if they were not cir-
cumcised and did not keep the law of Moses, as I said above.
He gives them back hard and sharp words and says, "Ye
know well that they heard the Word by me and such people
as Cornelius and his household became believers, and, as
proof, 1 you grumbled against me and accused me, because I A * 3
had gone to the Gentiles and converted and baptized them j
(Acts x and xi). What, have you forgotten that when you
would lay upon the Gentiles a yoke that neither our fathers
nor we could carry? What is it but tempting God, if we
lay on others an unnecessary burden, which we ourselves
cannot bear any more than they ? Especially since you know
that God has given them the Spirit without this burden and
made them equal to us, after we, too, have received the
same Spirit, not because of the burden of good works, but
out of grace, as was the case with our fathers also. For
since we have been unable to bear the burden, we have de-
served wrath far more than grace, because it was our duty
to bear it and we had obligated ourselves to do so."
This is the substance and main affair of this council, viz., Grace
the fact that the Pharisees wanted to set up, against the *
word of grace, the works, or merits, of the law, as neces-
sary to salvation. That way, the word of grace would have
gone to nothing, together with Christ and the Holy Ghost.
Therefore St. Peter fights it and argues against it so hard,
and will have men saved entirely by the grace of Jesus
1 ke-, That Peter had taken the Gospel to the Gentiles.
190 On the Councils and the Churches
Christ alone, without any works. Not satisfied with that,
he was so bold as to say that all their fathers, patriarchs,
prophets, and the entire holy Church in Israel had been
saved only by the grace of Jesus Christ and nothing else
and been condemned only because they had tempted God
by wanting to be saved by other means. I think we can call
this real preaching, and knocking the bottom out of the
cask ! Ought not this heretic be burned to death ? He for-
bids all good works and holds that grace and faith are
alone sufficient for salvation, and always has been, in the
case of all the saints and all the ancestors of all the world.
We must needs be called heretics and devils now, because
we teach nothing else than this sermon of St. Peter's and
the decree of this council, as all the world now knows better
than did the Pharisees whom St. Peter here rebuked.
But St. Peter is far above us, and a strange man indeed,
to preach only the grace of God unto salvation, which every-
body hears gladly. He also says, that neither they them-
selves nor their fathers have been able to bear this burden.
That is as much as to say, in good German, "We apostles,
and whoever we are, together with our ancestors, patri-
archs, prophets, and the whole people of God, have not kept
God's commandments, are sinners, and are damned." He
is not speaking of blood-sausage or black jelly, but of the law
John of Moses > a 11 ^ he says, "No one has kept it, or can keep it" ;
7:19 as Christ says, in John vii, "None of you keepeth the law."
That, in my opinion, is preaching the law unto damnation,
and making himself a condemned sinner ! How does it come,
then, that the alleged heir of St. Peter's chair calls himself
"Most Holy/' and elevates to saintship those whom he
chooses because of their works, not because of the grace
of Christ? And where do the monks stand, who bear a
burden heavier than that of the law, 1 so that they can sell 9
their surplus holiness? We have no such queer folk as
Peter, for we dare not hold the patriarchs, prophets, apos-
s i,e-, Who do more than the law commands and thus acquire superfluous
merit, throtigh works of supererogation.
,. ,_ , J * *k< indulgences, which were based on the superfluous merits
of Christ and the saints.
On the Councils and the Churches 191
ties, and the holy Church as sinners, but must call even
the pope "Most Holy" and "Saint of Saints/* i.e., Christ.
But St. Peter deserves a very gracious and honorable ab-
solution and is not to be considered queer at all ; for in this
great article, he preaches, first, the law, that we all are
sinners ; second, that only the grace of Christ saves us, even
the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and the entire holy
Church from the beginning, all of whom he makes sinners
and condemned men. In the third place, long before the
Council of Nicsea, he teaches that Christ is true God. For
he says that all the saints must be lost, if they are not saved
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. To bestow grace
and salvation, as Lord, He must be true God, who can
take away sin by grace, and death and hell by salvation.
This no creature will do, unless it were the "Most Holy*' at
Rome, though without injury to St. Peter's sermon. In the
fourth place, he who holds otherwise, and teaches that sin-
ners can be saved or obtain grace by the law or their own
works, is a tempter of God.
It may be said that this "burden" should be interpreted
to mean the law of Moses and circumcision, not the Ten
Commandments and good works. Let anyone interpret it so,
if he please ; I am satisfied. If you can keep the Ten Com-
mandments more easily tihan the Mosaic ceremonies, go on
and be holier than Sts. Peter and Paul ; I am so weak in the
Ten Commandments that I think it would be far easier for
me to keep all the Mosaic ceremonies, if the Ten Command-
ments did not weigh me down. But this is not the time to
argue that point; it has been fully discussed, otherwise and
elsewhere. 1 Even human reason must judge and admit, how-
ever, that the Ten Commandments, or the works of the
Ten Commandments, are not and cannot be called the grace
of Jesus Christ, but are something altogether different, and
must have another name. Now St. Peter says here that we
must be saved through the grace of Jesus Christ; but grace
*Prcfcably a reference to the controversy with the Antmomiana. See Wei-
mar E d . L, 461 ff., and below in this same ^^^
VoL V13.
192 On the Councils and the Churches
cannot be received or held with the works of our hands, but
with faith, in our hearts. That is certainly true.
It is marvellous to see how St. Peter, who, as an apostle,
had the right and power, together with other apostles, to set
2:20 U p this article as something new, for which reason they are
called the foundation of the Church, nevertheless goes back
and cites the holy Church of God of former times, the
Church of all the patriarchs and prophets, and as much as
says, "This is not a new doctrine, for so all our ancestors
and all the saints taught and believed. Why, then, do we
undertake to teach another and better doctrine, thereby
tempting God and leading our brethren's consciences astray,
and burdening them?"
That, I say, is the substance or chief thing in this coun-
cil, for which it was called, or came together. When that
was decided the council closed and everything was settled.
But the papal ass does not see or heed this chief matter and
gapes at the other four things that James adds, blood,
things strangled, idolatry, and fornication. By so doing,
they hope to strengthen their tyranny, and they allege that
since the Church has changed these articles, they have power
to chang;e the articles of faith and the councils ; that is to
say, "We are the Church, we can decree and do what we
please." Listen, papal ass ! You are a plain ass ; nay, you
are a filthy sow. The article of this council has not fallen
and has not been changed, but has remained always, from
the beginning, as St. Peter says, and will remain until the
end of the world; for there have always been holy men, who
have been saved only by the grace of Christ and not by the
law. Even under the devil of the papacy, there have re-
mained the text and the faith of the Gospel, baptism, the
Sacrament, the keys, and the name of Jesus Christ, though
the pope, with his accursed lies, has stormed against them
and has shamefully misled the world. So, too, it was said
of the Nicene Council, 1 that its decree existed before it and
remained after it. The decrees of the true councils must
remain forever, and they have always remained, especially
1 Above, p. 179.
On the Councils and the Churches 193
the chief articles, because of which they came into existence
and got the name of councils.
What shall we say, however, about this council of the James
apostles, when St. James makes exceptions of the four
points, blood, things strangled, idolatry, and fornication?
Is not the council contradicting itself, and is not the Holy
Ghost in disagreement with Himself? The two speeches
are plainly and palpably contradictory, not laying the bur-
den of the law of Moses, and yet laying it. Play the sophist,
if you will, and say that what was spoken of in the council
was not the whole law of Moses, but portions of it some of
which might be laid and others not laid upon the Gentiles.
But that will not do; for St. Paul decides in Galatians v,
that if a man keeps one part of the law, he is bound to keep
the law entirely, and it is equivalent to acknowledging that
one is bound to keep the whole law; otherwise one would
pay no heed to it at all. Here, too, there would be new cloth
on an old coat, and the rent would be worse. It is also
evident that these points are in the law of Moses and no-
where in the Gentiles' law. For where would have been
the necessity to lay them upon the Gentiles, if they had
already been accustomed to them in their native law? How,
then, do we reconcile these two, no law and the whole law?
Well, if we cannot make them agree, we must let St.
James go with his article, and keep St. Peter with his chief
article for the sake of which this council was held. With-
out St. Peter's article, no one can be saved; but Cornelius
and the Gentiles whom St. Peter had baptized, at his house
along with him, were holy and saved before St. James came
along with his article, as St. Peter says in this council. I
touched the question above, 1 whether one may, with a good
conscience, allow that these points have fallen, since the
Holy Ghost rules the council and makes all these decrees;
but it is a much more sharply disputed question, whether
the council is against itself and disagrees with itself. While
(desiring to relieve us of an impossible burden, it lays upon
us a still more impossible one, when it says that we are,
1 See pp. 153 fL
194 On the Councils and the Churches
at one and the same time, to do nothing and do everything.
To be sure, now that it has fallen, we do well to stick to the
one part, to St. Peter's articles, i.e., to the genuine Chris-
tian faith.
Only the commandment against fornication, which is the
fourth point in St. James' article, has not fallen, though, to
be sure, the courtesans 1 and condemned lords were on the
way to let it fall twenty years ago, when they began to con-
sider fornication not a mortal, but a venial sin, advocating
the principle that nature must take its course; 2 and that
is the way that the holy people at Rome still regard it. And
the reason why these leaders of the blind took this view was
that St. James puts fornication with the other three points
that have fallen, from which they conclude that if the pro-
hibition of blood, things strangled and idolatry no longer
hold, then neither does the prohibition of fornication hold
any longer, since it occurs among these others, and except
for that, is a natural human act. Let them go; they are
worthy of nothing better !
I shall state my opinion; let some one else improve on it!
I have now said often that the councils are to be looked at
and estimated from the point of view of the chief subject
which gave occasion for the council. That is the council in
essence,* the real body of the council, according to which all
else is to be judged, and to which all else is to be fitted,
as a garment fits the body that wears it, or has it on; if
a man takes it off and throws it away, it is no longer a gar-
ment. There cannot be a council or any other assembly,
even a chapter or a diet, but what, after the chief business
is settled, there are not one or two little, accidental matters
to be patched up, or arranged. In the Nicene Council, when
it had been settled that Christ is true God, there came in
the external matters of the Easter date and the quarrels of
the priests; and here, too, St. James' article comes in after
the chief article of St. Peter.
It was, then, the final opinion and decision of all the
*ie, The members of the papal court at Rome. Cf. Vol II, p. 88, note 3
*Natnra petit exitum. - *Ssbstantii liter . "
On the Councils and the Churches 195
apostles, and the council, that men must be saved, without
the law or the burden of the law, only by the faith of Jesus
Christ. When St. Peter, St. Paul and their party had
gained this decision, they were happy and well satisfied, for
it was according to this decision that they had worked, and
had striven against the Pharisees and Jews who had become
Christians and still wanted to retain the law. When St.
James, then, added his article, they could put up with it,
since this was not laid on the Gentiles as a law or burden of
law, as the letter of the council announces :Nihil oneris,
"We will therefore lay upon you no burden, except that ye
abstain from blood," etc. Indeed, they might well have en-
dured it, if St. James had added even more things, such as
the rule about leprosy and the like ; and the Ten Command-
ments remain, even without these things. These things,
however, are to be no law or burden, say they, but things
that are necessary for other reasons. But if a burden is no
more a burden, it is good to bear; and if law is no longer
law, it is good to keep, like the Ten Commandments, How
much more is that true of ceremonies, especially if they are
abolished or if very few are retained ! Of this more else-
where! If the pope were to relieve us of his burden, so
that it need no longer be law, we should readily obey him,
especially if he were to retain a little of it and abolish the
most of it. Therefore St. James and his article must endure
an interpretation that makes St. Peter's article, concerning
grace, without the law, to remain pure and firm and to rule
alone, without the law.
We shall also look at the reason for this side-issue of St.
James*, in order that we may understand this council en-
tirely. With the Jews the law o'f Moses was, so to speak,
inborn ; it was suckled into them, made a part of them, in-
grained in them from youth up, so that it became almost
their very nature, as St. Paul says, in Galatians ii, "We are ^
Jews by nature," i.e., born Mosaic (for he Is speaking of
the law and not only of birth) . Therefore they could not
stand the life of the Gentiles, or endure it when they were
compared with the the Gentiles among whom they were
196 On the Councils and the Churches
scattered in the lands, when they saw that the Gentiles ate
15:29
Acta blood, things strangled, and meat offered to idols, and yet
boasted that fliey were God's people, or Christians. This
moved St. James to guard against this offense, so that the
Gentiles might not abuse their freedom too wantonly, to
spite the Jews, but act soberly, so that the Jews, so deeply
saturated with the law might not be offended and therefore
spit upon the Gospel. For, dear God, we must have patience
with sick and erring men. Even we drunken Germans are
sometimes wise and say, "A load of hay must make way
for a drunken man." No one can win his spurs against
sick people, or a master's degree over ignoramuses.
And yet St. James acts quite soberly. He entirely dis-
regards the whole law of Moses about sacrifice and all the
other points that had to be observed in Jerusalem and Pal-
estine, and takes up only the four points on which the Jews
outside Jerusalem, among the Gentiles, took offense. For
the Jews, dispersed among the Gentiles, had to see the way
the Gentiles acted, had to live with them and, sometimes, eat
with them. It was very annoying, and it was wrong, to set
before a Jew blood-sausage, have cooked in blood, blood-
jellies, and meat sacrificed to idols, especially if I knew that
he could not endure it and must take it as an insult. It
would be the same as though I were to say, "Listen, Jew !
Even though I could bring you to Christ, if I did not eat
blood-sausage, or set it before you, I will not do it', but will
scare you away from Christ and chase you to hell with blood-
sausage." Would that be kind? I shall not ask if it would
be Christian! Must not everyone often keep silence and
not contradict another, when he sees and knows that things
that he would speak and do would be to the other's injury,
especially if it were against God? Now the Gentiles of these
days were violent toward the Jews and very proud, because
they were their lords; the Jews, in turn, were intolerant,
because they thought that they alone were God's people.
Many histories give powerful testimony to this.
The good advice of St. James was, therefore, the very
finest means to peace, and to the salvation of many. It
was that the Gentiles, since they had now attained Christ's
On the Councils and the Churches 197
grace without the law and without merit, should show
themselves helpful, in a few matters, to the Jews, as to sick
and erring folk, in order that they also might come to the
same grace. It did not harm the Gentiles in the eyes of
God to avoid the public, open use of blood, things strangled,
and meat sacrificed to idols (though in conscience they were
already free, through grace, on all these points) and for the
benefit and salvation of the Jews, to desist from giving
wanton offense. In the absence of Jews, they could eat
and drink what they pleased, without risk to conscience. The
Jews, too, would likewise be free in conscience, but could
not change the old external custom, for Consuetudo
est altera natura, 1 especially when it has grown out
of God's law. Thus fairness and reason also teach that one
should not flout atid hinder others, but serve them and be
helpful to them, according to the commandment, "Love thy GaL 5:14
neighbor," etc. Peter
These two articles, that of St. Peter and that of St. ?"*
James
James, are, therefore, contradictory and not contradictory,
St. Peter's article is about faith, St. James' about love. St.
Peter's article suffers no law, eats blood, things strangled,
meat sacrificed to idols, yes, and the devil, too, and gives no
heed to it. 2 It deals with God, not with man, and does noth-
ing but believe on the gracious God, St. James' article,
however, lives and eats with men; it directs everything to
the one purpose of bringing men to St. Peter's article, and
guards diligently against hindering anyone. Now the office
of love is so discharged on earth that the object of love, that
which is loved and helped, is changeable and transient. Love
cannot have the same object forever, but one object passes
away, and another comes in its place. Thus love must con-
tinue to love until the end of the world. When the Jews
had been scattered, or became obdurate, and the Gentiles no
longer had to practice love toward them, this whole article
fell. It was not altered by the power of the Church, as the
'papists lyingly declare, but since the cause of it was no
1 "Custom is second nature."
' a .Tbe sense is, "It pays no attention at all to foods."
198 On the Councils and the Churches
longer there, Christians freely ate blood and black jelly,
from which they had for a time abstained on account of the
Jews, and for their good, even though they had not been
hound, in the eyes of God, to do so, because of their faith.
If St. James had wanted to lay these points upon them as
GiL 5*3 kw, he would have had to lay the whole law upon them, as
St Paul says in Galatians v, "He that keeps one law must
keep all." That would be flatly against St. Peter's article,
which St. James approves.
He puts fornication in among these things, however,
though it remains condemned forever in the Ten Com-
mandments; and this is the reason. Among the Gentiles,
fornication was considered a small sin; nay, no sin at all.
You read this in the books of the heathen, and twenty years
ago, as I indicated above, 1 the courtesans and worthless
priests began publicly to say and believe the same thing.
Among the Gentiles, therefore, it was no greater sin to com-
mit fornication than to eat blood-sausage, hares cooked in
blood, blood-jellies, or meat sacrificed to idols. Read in the
histories how unwilling the Romans were to take wives, so
that the Emperor Augustus had to compel them to marry; 3
for they thought that fornication was right and that their
rights were violated when the attempt was made to compel
them to marry. Therefore St. James would teach the Gen-
tiles that, even without the compulsion of their rulers, they
ought, of their own accord, to give up fornication and live
in the married state, chastely and purely. This the Jews did,
and they took grave offense at the freedom of fornication]
and could not believe that the Gentiles could come to God's
grace and become God's people, because of this difference
in foods and in living.
_ The apostles, therefore, did not lay the law upon the Gen-
tiles, and yet they allowed it to the Jews for a time, preach-
i Cor. ing grace boldly meanwhile. Thus we see that St. Paul when
ctT amoa ^ J ews ' lived a 8 a J ew " wlien among the Gentiles,
16:3 as a Genti k; so that he might win all. He circumcised his
*Cf. p. 194, note.
*By the Lex Papia Poppaea (9 B. C.)
Act
On the Councils and the Churches 199
disciple, Timothy, who was already a believer, not because
it must be so, but, as St. Luke says, for the sake of the Jews
of the place, that he might not offend them. Afterwards, he Acts
had himself purified in the Temple, with the Jews, and sac- 21:26
rificed according to the law of Moses ; all which he did, as
St. Augustine says in that fine and now famous word,
Oportuit synagogam cum honore sepe-
lire, 1 i.e., in order to bury Moses, or his church and law,
with honor.
How this council and the articles of both St. Peter and
St. James were afterwards kept, you will discover abun-
dantly in St. Paul's Epistles, in which he complains every-
where about the false apostles, who insist on the law
as a necessity to the detriment of grace, and seduce whole
houses and countries, and lead them back to the law; and
that under the name of Christ.
After the Nicene Council the case was still worse. The Arfn*
rascal Arius humbled himself and accepted the council in AftGf
the presence of the Emperor Constantine, even with an oath, NicenA
and therefore the emperor allowed him to come back. Then Council
he began to fan the flames in earnest and the bishops of
his party, especially after Constantine' s death, through his
son, the Emperor Constantius, whom they had won over,
played the game so horribly that throughout the world Con-
stantius drove out all the true bishops, except two, Gregory
and Basil. 3 Some say, here, that Constantine, the father,
became an Arian before he died and in his will commended
to his son, Constantius, an Arian priest who had been faith-
fully commended to him by his sister, Constantia, on her
death-bed, and that it was through him that the Arians
afterwards became so powerful.
Such histories warn us to pray for great lords, because the
devil seeks them most of all, since he can do the greatest
harm through them ; also that we ourselves are to be careful,
and not readily to give credence to sectarian spirits, even if
1 "It was right to give the synagogue an honorable funeral." The passage
is not found in Augustine.
"Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390), and Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea
(370-79). Luther's information is not accurate. It rests on Rufirms and the
Tripatrtita. Cf. SCHAEFER, L. als Kirchen histor iker, 277.
200 On the Councils and the Churches
they humble themselves as completely as this rascal Arius
did. It is said, Aliquando compugnuntur et
mali, 1 but they keep behind the hill till they get air and
room/ and then they fall to, like Arius, and do the things
that they had in mind before. I do not wonder greatly
that the fathers laid such severe and lengthy penance on
renegade Christians. They would have had experience with
them, and would have known how false their humility was,
and how hard it was for them to humble themselves to peni-
tence sincerely and from their hearts, as Sirach also says,
Ab inimico reconciliato, 8 etc.
Briefly, if one does not know the meaning of o s c u 1 u m
J u d a e , "a Judas-kiss," let him read the story of Arius
under Constantine, and he will have to say that Arius went
far beyond Judas. He deceived the good Emperor Con-
stantine with these fair words, "We believe in one God,
one Word, by Whom all things were made," etc. Tell me,
what Christian could hold these words heretical, or think
that Arius still held Christ to be a creature? But that
became clear when he came to trial. In the same way
Auxentius, bishop of Milan, the immediate predecessor of St.
Ambrose, f ookd the people with such words that, on first
impression I almost became angry at St. Hilary, when I
read the words, Blasphemia Auxentii on the title
page of Auxentius' Confessions.* I would have staked
my body and soul on Auxentius' word that he held Christ-
to be true God. I hope, too, that amid these blind and
deceptive words, many good, simple folk remained by their
former faith and were preserved in it, because they were
unable to understand these words otherwise than as an ex-
pression of the faith that had existed from the beginning.
s VSometimes even the wicked are defeated."
'i.e., They bide their time until their chance comes.
"Never trust thine enemy: for like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness.
Though he humble himself and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware
of him," Ecclesiasticus 12: 10, 11 (A. V.)
*AtKentius (d. 374) was denounced as a heretic by Pope Damasus and de-
dared deposed (370),^^ kept his bishopric until his death. Hilary of Poitiers
published his conf ession of faith as an appendix to his Book Against
the Arians, entitling it "An Illustration of the Blasphemy of Auxentius."
Cf, Realencyk. Arts. Damasus, Hilarius v <x n Poitiers,
and Weimar Ed. L, 570, note a., where he is mistakenly referred to as
the successor of Ambrose.
On the Councils and the Churches 201
Indeed, no one could understand them otherwise unless he
knew the private interpretation that the Arians gave them.
Because it is so necessary for Christians to know this
illustration, and because the ordinary reader of history does
not examine it so closely and does not think how profitable
it is as a warning against all other spirits of division, whom
the devil, their god, makes so slippery that they can never
be seized or grasped; for these reasons I shall briefly state
this case, under a few heads.
First, Arius taught that Christ was not God, but a creature.
Then the good bishops extorted from him the confession iwtt
that Christ was God like St. Peter and Paul and like the I Cor.
angels who are called in the Scriptures "gods" and "Sons * 5
of G f (* Corinthian s viii, John x, Psalm Ixxxii, Job io:34
XXXviii). Ps. 82:6
^ Secondly, When the fathers discovered this they forced Job 38:7
him farther, until he and his followers granted that Christ
was real and true God. They submitted to these words for
the sake of appearances, since this had been the teaching
theretofore in all the churches. Among themselves, how-
ever, (and this is especially true of Eusebius of Nicomedia,
Arius' chief patron) they interpreted these words as fol-
lows: Omne factum dei est verum, "Every-
thing created, or made, by God is true and real; what is
false God has not made, therefore we are willing to confess
that Christ is real, true God, though among ourselves we hold
Him to be a made God, like Moses and all the saints." Here
they admitted everything that we now sing on Sunday in
the churches, since the Nicene Council, I>eumde deo,
Lumen de lumine, Deum verum de deo
v e r o /
Thirdly, When this false trick came out, and it became
known that, in spite of these words, they still held Christ
to be a creature, the dispute became sharper until they had
to confess that Christ had existed before the whole world.
Who, then, could believe otherwise than that Arius and his
bishops were true Christians and had been unjustly con-
*"God of God, Light of light, Very God of very God."
202 On the Councils and the Churches
demned by the Nicene Council? This is what they were at
soon after the Nicene Council, which had made short work
of them and stated the faith as it was ; for they wanted to
undo the Nicene Council, and attacked one point after
another.
Fourthly, This blind evasion was noticed, viz., that Christ
was to be and be called a creature, though with the explana-
tion that He was before all the world, i.e., He was created or
made before all the world, or before all other creatures.
CoL 1*5 /pj^ {key were compelled to confess that all the world and
John I'S 3 ^ tirittg 8 were ma -de by Him, as John i says; yet among
their own people they interpreted this to mean that Christ
was first made, and then all things were made by Him.
Fifthly, It was then easy for them to confess, g e n i t u m,
j ofan non factum, 1 viz., that Christ was born of God, not
1:12 created; born as all Christians, born of God, are sons of
God (John i) ; not created among other creatures, but before
all creatures.
Sixthly, Then it came to the heart of the matter, viz.,
that Christ is homoousios 3 with the Father, i.e., that
Christ is of one and the same deity with the Father, and
has one and the same power. Then they could no longer
find any trick or hole or scheme or hoax. Homoousios
means "of one essence, or nature/' or "of the same and not
of a second essence," as the fathers had decreed in the
council, and as is sung in Latin, consubstantialis ;
some afterwards said coexistentialis, coessen-
t i a 1 i s . They had accepted this at Nicaea, in the council,
and they still accepted it when they had to speak in the pres-
ence of the emperor or of the fathers; but among them-
selves they attacked it bitterly. They declared that this
word was not in the Scriptures; they held many councils,
even in Constantine's time, seeking to weaken the Council of
Nicaea; they started much trouble. At last they made the
hearts of our party so timid that even St. Jerome was per-
plexed, and wrote a letter of complaint to Damasus, Bishop
1 "Begotten, not made."
8 "Of one substance. 5 '
On the Councils and the Churches 203
of Rome, and began to ask that the word Homoousios
be^ scratched out. "For/' he says, "there is some kind of
poison in the letters, which makes them so objectionable to
the Arians." 1
There is a Dialog 3 still extant, in which Athanasius and
Arius dispute before an official named Probus about this
word Homoousios. When Arius insisted vigorously that
this word was not in the Scriptures, Athanasius caught him
in his own trap, and said, "Neither are these other words
in the Scriptures, innascibilis, ingenitus Deus,*
meaning "God is unborn*'; for these the Arians had used
to prove that Christ could not be God, because He was born
and God was unborn; and Probus decided against Arius.
For while it is true that in matters concerning God nothing
should be taught except the Scriptures (as St. Hilary says in
his D e t r i n i t a t e*) , that means only that nothing should
be taught that is different from the Scriptures. It cannot be
held that one cannot use more words or other words than
those that are in the Scriptures, especially in controversy.
When the heretics would falsify the case with false evasions
and pervert the words of Scripture, it was necessary to com-
prise in a short word of summary the meaning, which the
Scriptures put in many sayings, and ask whether they held
Christ homoousios ; for this was the meaning of the
Scriptures in all the words which they perverted, in their own
circles, with false interpretations, but had freely confessed
before the emperor and in the council. It is just as though
the Pelagians were to try to entrap us with the words
"original sin" or "Adam's^ague/* because these words
do not occur in the Scriptures, and yet the Scriptures do
powerfully teach what these words mean, saying that we are
conceived in sin (Psalm li), are all by nature children Ps * 51i7
of wrath (Ephesians ii), and must all be sinners because of EplL 2:3
one man's sin (Romans v) .
_
*The letter in Migne, 22, 356; Vienna, 54, 64.
2 This dialog (Migne, 62, 155 ff.) passed in the sixteenth century as a
work of Athanasius. Its author was Vigilus of Thapaus who lived at the end
of the fifth centttry. Realencyk. 20, 640 ff.
"Unborn; the nnbegotten God.**
*De trin. I, 18. Nicene Fathers, be, 45.
* A dams- cue he.
204 On the Councils and the Churches
Now tell me, if Arms were to come before you today and
con ^ ess t ^ ae w ^^ e cree< i of the Nicene Council, as we sing it
today in our churches, could you hold him a heretic? I
myself would say that he was right. And suppose that under-
neath it all he was a rascal and believed something different
' and afterwards interpreted the words differently and taught
differently; would I not have been finely deceived? There-
fore I do not believe that Constantine became an Arian,
but that he stuck by the Nicene Council. What happened to
him was that he was deceived, and believed that Arius held
just what the Nicene Council did. He demanded an oath
from him to that effect, as was said above, 1 and then com-
manded that they should receive him again in Alexandria.
When Athanasius would not do this, because he knew the
false Arius better than Constantine did, he had to be driven
out; for it may well be that Constantine got the idea that
Arius, this good Christian, had been condemned at Nicaea
out of envy or jealousy, especially since the Arians, Eusebius
of Nicomedia above all, espoused his cause with the emperor,
filled his ears with stories, and glorified Arius. For great
kings and lords, even though they are good men, do not
Mark always have angels and St. John the Baptist (Mark vi)
about them at court, but often Satan (I Kings xxii) and
J u< ^ as an< ^ Doeg (I Samuel xxii), as the book of Kings show.
i Sam. It is a good sign that Constantine, before his death, recalled
22:9 Athanasius, though the Arians strove hard to prevent it
(III Tripart 11). a Thus he shows that it was not his
desire to reject the Nicene Council and its doctrine, but that
he would gladly have brought everything into unity.
That is just what some of our false papal scribblers are
doing now. They pretend that they would teach faith and
good works in order to bedeck themselves and besmirch us,
as though they had always so taught and we had wrongly
accused them of teaching otherwise. Their intention is, when
they have decorated themselves with sheeps' clothing, as
though they were just like us, to bring their wolf back again
*Cf. p. 199.
*Cf. p. 199.
Txipartita, IV, 1-3.
On the Councils and the Churches 285
into the sheep-pen. It is not their serious purpose to teach
faith and good works; but since, like the Arians, they can-
not keep their poison and wolfishness and set them up agaia
by any other means than this sheeps j clothing of faith and
good works, they deck themselves up in it and conceal the
wolfskin, until they get back in the sheep-pen. They must
be treated as they treat our people, and we must bid them
revoke their abominations and prove their revocation with
deeds, by abolishing all the abuses that ruled, contrary to
faith and good works, in their churches, among their people.
Thus they can be known by their fruits. If they do not do
this, then their mere .words and gestures are sheep skins, and
cannot be believed. So Arius, too, should have recanted, ac-
knowledged his error, and actually contradicted himself,
in doctrine and life, as St. Augustine contradicted his Mani-
chseism, 1 and as many men today are contradicting their
former papistry and monkery ; among whom, by God's grace,
I can count myself. But they will have it that they have not
erred, and will not do God the honor of confessing it ; just
as the Arians wanted to defend their lies and would not have
it thought that the council had condemned them.
The lesson of these histories we should well observe,
especially those of us who must be preachers and have com-
mand to feed Christ's flock, so that we may see well to it,
or be good bishops, as St. Peter says in I Peter v (for * ^
episcopus, or bishop, means one who looks well to
things, who is alert, who watches diligently), so that we may
not be taken unawares by the devil. Here we see how he can
twist and disguise himself in such masterly style that he
'becomes far fairer than an angel of light (II Corinthians n COT.
xi), and false bishops are holier than the true bishops, and 11;14
the wolf is more righteous than any sheep. We have not to
deal now with the plain, black, papal spirits 3 outside the
Scriptures ; they are accommodating themselves to the Scrip-
tures and to our doctrine, want to be like us and yet tear us
1 Augustine was a Mamichaan before he became a Christian, and later wrote
extensively against tike Manichaeans.
*Polter Babst geister .
206 On the Councils and the Churches
to pieces. The Holy Ghost alone must help, and we must
pray with diligence, or we have lost entirely.
From all this it is evident why the council was held,
not on account of outward ceremonies, but on account o the
high article of the deity of Christ. It was around this that
the controversy arose; it was this that was chiefly discussed
In the council and afterwards assailed by the unspeakable
ragings of the devil, in which the other articles were not
remembered. The wretched business lasted nearly three
hundred years among the Christians, so that Augustine holds
that Arms* punishment in hell becomes greater every day,
as long as this error lasts, for Mohammed came out of this
sect. It is evident, too, that what I undertook to show is
true, viz., that this council neither devised nor established
anything new, but defended the old faith against the new
error of Arius. From this fact one cannot conclude that
the councils have power to devise and set up new articles
concerning faith and good works, still less that the pope at
Rome has this power, as they falsely claim.
Let this be enough, for the time, about the first chief
council of Nicaea.
The second chief council, that of Constan-
tinople, was assembled about fifty years after the Nicene
Council, 1 under the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius.* This
was the cause of it. Arius had denied the deity of Christ
and the Holy Ghost. Meanwhile a new sect arose, the
of on- Macedonians, for one error always brings another, one dis-
<Ktanti " aster another, without end and cessation.
These Macedonians praised the decision of the Nicene
Council that Christ was God and vigorously condemned
Arius. They taught, however, that the Holy Ghost was not
true God, but a creature of God, through whom God moves,
enlightens, comforts, and strengths the hearts of men, and
does all that the Scriptures say the Holy Ghost does. This
sect took strong hold among many great, learned, and able
a Tlie Council -was held in 3&1.
* Gratian was emperor 375-383; Tfccodosfas, 379-395.
On the Councils and the Churches 207
bishops. It came about this way. Macedonius 1 was bishop
of Constantinople, the great capital of the whole Eastern
part of the Empire, where the imperial court was. This
bishop began the sect, and the fact that the foremost bishop,
the bishop of the imperial residence, Constantinople, taught
thus, produced a great effect. Almost everyone in the lands
around Constantinople, which depended on Constantinople,
fell to him and attached themselves to him, and Macedonius
was not idle ; he urged his cause hard, and would have liked
to draw the whole world into his following, as the devil does
in all sects.
^ The good bishops were all too weak to resist this sect o
bishops. Formerly a simple priest of Alexandria, Arius,
had started such a confusion ; but here it was not a priest,
nor even an ordinary bishop, but the bishop of the foremost
city, the bishop of the imperial palace at Constantinople,
that started the confusion, and the bishops had to appeal
again to the emperor to assemble another great council to
resist this error. This the good Emperor Theodosius did
and put it in the city of Constantinople itself, in the district
of the church where Macedonius had been bishop; just as
the other time Constantine had put the Nicene Council at
Nicsea, where the bishop was Theognis, who helped Euse-
bius of Nicomedia to support Arius and afterward to bring
him back again.
The next year Damasus, bishop of Rome, also held a
council 3 and would have liked to have the matter dealt with S^cn
at Rome, so that the Roman See might get the power to call ana the
councils and judge all cases. It was to be known as a uni- POJMS
versal council; for as the highest bishop in the world, he
called the fathers who had held the council at Constantinople
in the previous year; but they would not come. However,
they did write him a fine Christian letter, telling him what
*The personal history of Macedonius is quite unclear. It is connected with
the bitter struggle between the Arians ant? the orthodox in the middle of the
fourth century. Whether he -was the founder ode the sect that bears his name
is open to question. See LOQFS in Realencyk. 12, 41 ff.
a Luther > a source for all of the following is the Tri partita. Damasus
' 6 * e * *** *'* * **"* * r
Vol. V 14
208 On the Councils and the Churches
they had done in the Council of Constantinople. They
notified him, among other things, that they had condemned
the heresy of Macedonius and that they had appointed new
bishops of Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem. O, but
they ought not to have done that without the knowledge
and consent of the bishop of Rome, who wanted to have
the sole power to call councils (which he was not able to do) ,
to judge all heresy (which he could not), and to change
bishops (which was not his business) !
They gave him other good slaps, besides. They told him
that in the new church at Constantinople (for the city of
Constantinople had b^n built recently) they had appointed
Nectarius bishop, at Antioch Flavian, at Jerusalem Cyril.
These three points were most vexatious to the bishop of
Rome; nay, it was intolerable that he should have to hear or
see them. First, they call Constantinople a new church and
appoint a bishop there, though without the knowledge and
consent of the bishop of Rome, no new church or new
bishop ought to be created. The second is still worse, for
they call the church at Antioch the first and oldest of the
Actg churches, in which (as they prove by St. Luke, in Acts xi)
the believers in Christ were first called Christians; more-
over St. Peter and St. Paul and many of the greatest apos-
tles preached there for more than seven years. That was
the same as to say in my German : "Listen, Lord bishop of
Rome ! You are not the first or highest bishop ; but if there
is to be only one church, it ought more fittingly be the Church
of Antioch, which has on its side the Scriptures of St. Luke
and .actual facts, while Rome has on its side neither Scrip-
tures nor facts !"
They were fine and able people, however, and they wanteu
to check the proud spirit of Rome soberly and gently, in
Christian love and humility, and, as Sirach says, 1 "to spit
on the sparks," and exhort the bishop of Rome to remem-
ber that the Gospel had not come from Rome to Antioch,
but from Antioch to Rome ; therefore, if it came to a ques-
tion of precedence, Antioch, the oldest church, ought rightly
1 Ecdesiasticos 28: 14,
On the Councils and the Churches 209
to have precedence over Rome, the new church. This ambi-
tion, as the words show, had vexed these fine, holy fathers
sorely, and that was proper. If there had been a Doctor
Luther in the council, so mild a letter would not have been,
written to the bishop of Rome, if he could have had any-
thing to do with it. In a word, there were people in this
council with whom none of the bishops of Rome of all time
could compare. 1
The third point is worst of all, when they call the church
at Jerusalem the mother of all churches. The reason is that
Christ, the Lord, was Himself bishop there, and as a sign
of it, sacrificed Himself on the cross for the sins of all the
world. There the Holy Ghost was given from heaven, on
the Day of Pentecost. There all the apostles together ruled
the Church; not Pefer only, of whom the bishop of Rome
boasts. No single one of these things happened at Rome.
Hereby they soberly admonish the bishop of Rome to re-
member that he is very far from being the bishop of Jeru-
salem, the mother-church, but that his church at Rome is
a daughter-church, which d!id not have Christ and the
apostles and did not bring Jerusalem to the faith; on the
contrary, he and his church were brought to the faith by it.
St. Paul humbles the Corinthians the very same way, telling
them that the Gospel did not come from them, but came to
them from others.
At last, however, they go beyond all bounds and appoint
a patriarch in the new church at Constantinople, and do it can-
without the previous knowledge and consent of the bishop of *****
Rome, as though, in matters of this kind, his knowledge I1W
made no difference at all. Here, as the pope's flatterers
themselves say, is the beginning of the everlasting contro-
versy and contention between the bishop of Rome and the
bishop of Constantinople over the primacy, or supreme
authority. For when the bishop of Constantinople, though
he was in a new city, was made a patriarch and given an,
equal position with the bishop of Rome, the latter feared
that the bishop of Constantinople would claim the primacy;
1 Niciit kundten das wasser reichen.
210 On the Councils and the Churches
as actually happened afterwards. The bishops of Constan-
tinople argued that the emperor had his residence, or court,
at Constantinople and not at Rome, and Constantinople
was called New Rome; therefore he must be the supreme
bishop because "he was bishop of the imperial city and
court. On the other hand, the bishop of Rome argued that
Rome was true Rome, and the emperor was called Roman
emperor, not Constantinopolitan emperor, and Rome was
earlier than Constantinople. They clawed at each other
"with such childish, womanish, foolish scurrilities that it is a
sin and a shame to hear and read them.
The dispute lasted until the time when Phocas was em-
peror, the man who had the good Emperor Maurice, his
lord and predecessor, whose captain he had been, and whom
the histories call a saint, beheaded with his wife and chil-
dren. 1 This pious Cain confirmed to the pious Pope Boni-
face 3 of Rome the supremacy over all bishops, and there
could have been no better man to confirm this supremacy
thai this shameful murderer of emperors. Thus Rome had
as good a beginning for its papacy as it had had for its
empire, when, in earlier days, Romulus slew his brother,
Remus, so that he might rule alone and 'call the city after
himself. Nevertheless, the bishops of Constantinople cared
nothing for that, and the contention went on and on, though
meanwhile the Roman bishops, over and above the confirma-
tion of Phocas, began to deck themselves with fig-leaves and
^.j cried, with great bellowings, that the church of Rome was
Matt su P reme > not by man's ordering, but by Christ's own insti-
16:18 tution, according to Matthew xvi, TtiesPetrus,etc. a
But the people at Constantinople saw that those at Rome
were unlearned and quoted Christ's words falsely and inap-
propriately, and they did not accept the argument. Thus the
/In 602 Phocas headed a revolution in Constantinople which deposed
Maunce, who had been on the throne since 582. Maurice and his whole family
were put to death. Pope Gregory the Great haile<J the revolution as an act of
Uod aainst a tyrant. Phocas was emperor until 610, when he was deposed
and killed in another revolution, headed by Hearaclius. See Cambridge
Mediaeval History, ii, 282 ff.
a Boniface I was pope for eight months in 607. He had been the papal dip-
lomatic representative at Constantinople and was on the friendliest terms with
-Fhocas. from whom he secured the recognition of Rome as "the head of all
churches," See Realencyk. 3, 289.
8 * Thau art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church."
On the Councils and the Churches 211
two churches, Rome and Constantinople, wrangled over the
worthless primacy with lame, vain scurrilities, until at last
the devil devoured them both: that of Constantinople by
the Turks and Mohammed, that of Rome by the pope and
his blasphemous decrees.
I tell all this in order that it may be seen what misery was
caused by this fine Council of Constantinople, because the
bishop of that city was made patriarch. To be sure, the
misery would not have been avoided even though no patri-
arch of Constantinople had been appointed, for the ambi-
tious devil's head at Rome had already begun to make these
demands of the bishops everywhere (as was said above),
and if the bishop of Constantinople had not fallen foul o
him, he would have rubbed against those of Alexandria,
Jerusalem, and Antioch; for he would not put up with the
decree of the Council of Nicsea, in which he had been put
on equality with the bishop of Alexandria and beneath the
bishop of Jerusalem. He will be head of the Church with-
out the councils and fathers, jure d i v i n o 1 as he roars,
blasphemes, and lies in his decrees.
This, then, was the second great council, at Constantino-
pie. It did three things. First, it confirmed the doctrine
that the Holy Ghost is true God and condemned Macedonius, Did
who held and taught that the Holy Ghost is a creature.
Second, it deposed the heretical bishops and appointed real
bishops, especially at Antioch and Jerusalem. Third, it
made Bishop Nectarius of Constantinople a patriarch, which
made the bishops of Rome wild, mad, and crazy, although
the good fathers may have done it with the best intentions.
The first thing is the main thing, and is the sole reason
why this council was held. From this the intention of the
council can be understood. It was to do no more, and did
no more, than preserve the article concerning the deity of
the Holy Ghost. When it had done that, it had finished the
work for which it was summoned.
The second thing, the deposition of bishops, is not an
article of faith, but an external tangible work. Even rea-
l *'By divine right,"
212 On the Councils and the Churches
son ought and can do it, and for this it is not necessary, as
it is when dealing with articles of faith, to have the Holy
Ghost in any special way, or to assemble a council. There-
fore it must have been done at another session, after the
session of the council. They did not establish anew the
churches or bishoprics at Antioch and Jerusalem, but they
let them stay as they had been from the beginning ; all they
did was to put other persons into them. The offices must
always have been in the Church from the beginning and
Act3 must continue until the end ; but other persons must be put
1:26 into them constantly ; : Matthias after Judas (Acts i), and
living bishops after those who have died. This is not prop-
erly the work of a council but may be done/ indeed it
must be done, both before and after the councils, as the
necessities of the churches demand. Councils cannot be
held every day, but there is daily need for persons who can
be put in the offices of the Church as often as they fall
vacant.
The third thing was new. They made a patriarch with
the best of human intentions. How it turned out, we have
told above; what a shameful wrangling and contention the
two bishops started over it, so that it is plain that the Holy
Ghost did not order it so; for it is not an article of faith,
but an external, tangible work of the reason, or of flesh
and blood. What difference does it make to the Holy Ghost,
which bishop has precedence and which comes after? He
has other things to do than this worldly child's-play. This is
not only a lesson, to teach us that the councils have no power
to establish new good works, still less articles of faith ; but
it is also a warning, that councils ought not to appoint or
establish any thing new, for they should know that they are
not assembled for that purpose, but to defend the old faith
against new teachers ; though, to be sure, they may put new
persons in old offices (but then persons cannot be called
articles of faith or good works, since they are uncertain,
mortal men), and this has to be done outside the councils,
in the churches, more than in the councils; nay, it must be
done every day.
On the Councils and the Churches 213
Even the fathers of the council themselves confess that
they established nothing new, when they write, as has been
said to Damasus, bishop of Rome, and say, among other
things^ "We know that this is the old, true faith, which is
according to baptism, and teaches us to believe on the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"
Indeed, they say nothing at all about the third point, the
patriarch of Constantinople, perhaps because they thought
that this was not the point on account of which they had
come to the council and it was no heresy, if a Christian were
not to hold, as an article of faith, that the bishop was a
patriarch; just as today there are many people who are
neither heretics nor lost because they do not hold the pope
to be the head of the Church, notwithstanding his councils,
decretals, bulls and bellowings. Perhaps, on the other hand,
they did not do this by unanimous consent, but it was done
by the Emperor Theodosius ; for the other histories declare
that Theodosius instigated it and pushed it; and he had no
power to set up articles of faith.
Since, then, they themselves say and confess that it is the
old, true faith, in which we were baptized and instructed,
why shall we grant to the councils the high authority to
set up new articles of faith and burn as heretics all those
who do not believe them? That is not understanding the
councils rightly and knowing what a council is and what
its office and action are; it is rather looking at the letters
and giving them all power, even over God. Of that more
hereafter! We shall now take a brief glance at the other
two chief councils besides.
The third great council 1 was held under Theo-
dosius II, 3 grandson of Theodosius I, of whom I spoke in rni0
discussing the second council. This emperor summoned two
hundred bishops to come together to Ephesus. The Latin Council
writers would like to weave the pope into the story, but it of
is a fact, nevertheless, that it was not the pope, but the Eph * sns
emperor,' who had to summon this council, for now that
1 The Council of Ephesus, 431.
a Emperor 408-450.
214 On the Councils and the Churches
there was a patriarch at Constantinople who was on equal
footing with the bishop of Rome, the bishops of the East
cared far less about the bishop of Rome than before. It
was, therefore, impossible for the bishop of Rome to call
this council, especially at Ephesus, which lay far across the
sea, in Asia. If he could have done so, he would have put
It nearer Rome, as Damasus tried to do with the former
council, that of Constantinople. 1 To be sure, he is said
to have had his legates there. That may be, but they did not
preside.
The reason for this council was as follows: The dear
fathers and fine bishops were gone, St. Ambrose, St.
Martin, St. Jerome, St. Augustine (who died that very
year), St. Hilary, St. Eusebius, 3 and others like them, and
in their place had come other fathers, who were not their
equals. Therefore the Emperor Theodosius was no longer
willing to have a bishop of Constantinople chosen from
among the priests or clergy of the city of Constantinople,
for the reason that they were commonly proud, ambitious,
and headstrong and usually caused nothing but trouble.
Even St. John Chrysostom* was such a person, as the
Historia tripartita* tells. Therefore the emperor
had an a d v e n a , K as they called him, brought from Antioch.
His name was Nestorius and he was a man of strict
and chaste life, loud-voiced and eloquent, and violently op-
posed to all heretics. He had to become bishop and patri-
arch of Constantinople. So the emperor made a great effort
and had no success ; he tried to run out of the rain and fell
in the water.
Nestorius began to defend his priest Anastasius, who
had preached that the Holy Virgin should not be called
Mother of God, for since she was human she could not
bear God. This gave offense to all Christians and they took
*See above, p. 207.
Ambrose died 397; Martin, 400; Jerome, 420; Augustine, 430 (not 431);
HMuy el Poitiers, 367; Eusebius of Czsareak 339.
The great preacher of Antioch, wko became patriarch of Constantinople in
398. He was involved in the Origenistic Controversy and deposed 403. He
died in 407.
*T ri p art . X, 3, 13, "His pride was an offense warranting condemnatioti/*
**'A foreigner,**
On the Councils and the Churches 215
no other meaning from it than that he held that Christ, born
of Mary, was not God, but a mere man, like all of us ; and
out of this there arose such a state of affairs that the
emperor had to call a council to help things.
The great bishops came together to Ephesus, though
slowly, Nestorius with many others, Cyril from Alexan-
dria, Juvenalis from Jerusalem, and when John of Antioch
delayed his coming, Cyril (who was opposed to Nestorius)
and Juvenal condemned Nestorius, and he and his followers,
in turn, condemned them. When John of Antioch arrived
and found this division, he was angry at Cyril because he
had so hot-headedly and hastily condemned Nestorius, and
the two went at each other and each condemned the other
and deposed the other from his bishopric.
When Nestorius saw that such a disturbance had arisen,
he said, "Oh, let us do away with what causes so much trou-
ble and admit that Mary may be called Mother of God/'
But this recantation did not help ; he had to stay under con-
demnation and in exile. To be sure, the two bishops, of
Antioch and Alexandria, did condemn one another, even
after the council, when they were back at home again; but
at last they were reconciled. Nevertheless, it is offensive
and distressing to read how these people in high station acted.
They needed a Constantine to throw their contentious let-
ters into the fire ;* but those who could have done that were
gone. Now if Nestorius was in such error that he held
Christ not for God, but for mere man, then he was justly
condemned, for his teaching was much worse than that of
Arius or Macedonius.
That is the third great council. It did nothing more than
that. And yet we see that it set up no new articles, but
defended the old, true faith against the new doctrine of Nes-
torius, if that is what he taught; and on this basis, we cannot
grant the councils the power to establish new articles. For
that Christ is true God was defended before, in the Councils
of Nicaea and Constantinople, as a true, old article, held
from the beginning and proved, by the Holy Scriptures and
1 Cf. above, p. 177.
216 On the Councils and the Churches
now testified over against the new heresy of Arius. The
other decrees established there have to do with bodily mat-
ters and are not articles of faith and we pass them by.
^ In order, however, that we may understand this council
Error' thoroughly, we shall say a little more about it. At one time
I myself could not understand what Nestorius' error was,
and thought that Nestorius denied the deity of Christ, and
held Christ for nothing more than a mere man, as the
pope's decrees and all the papal authors say; but by their
own words, when I looked at them rightly, I was forced to
another conclusion, for they accuse him of making Christ
two Persons, God and man. Some, who also could not
understand the case, imagined that he taught as follows:
Christ was first born of Mary as mere man, and then lived
such a holy life that the Godhead united with Him and thus
He became God. And their writings are so confused that
I think that they themselves do not know, to the present
day, why they condemned Nestorius. Observe that they
admit that Nestorius held Christ for God and man ; only he
is said to have made two Persons of Him. From this it is
certain that Nestorius did not hold Christ for a mere man,
as we all thought, since he also holds Him for God, as their
own words say. The only knot that remains is that he is
said to have taken Christ, really and truly God and man, for
a dual Person, divine and human. That is one thing.
Now he who divides Christ and makes two Persons of
Him, makes two Christs, a divine Christ who is alto-
gether God and not a man at all, and a human Christ, who
Is altogether man, and not God; otherwise there could not
be two Persons. It is sure, however, that Nestorius did not
believe that there were two Christs, but only one single
Christ, as their own words imply, when they say that Nes-
torius held Christ, viz,, the one, same, real Christ and no
other, to be two Persons. Therefore it must be false and
wrong to say that he held Christ to be two Persons. The
two things cannot stand together, viz., that Christ is two
Persons and yet is the same, single Christ; but, as said, if
there are two Persons, there are two Christs, and not one
On the Councils and the Churches 217
Christ. But Nestorius holds to no more than one Christ
Therefore he could not have held Christ to be two Persons,
or he would have contradicted himself and said yes and no
in one statement. So, too, it is not written anywhere in the
histories that Nestorius held Christ to be two Persons, ex-
cept that the popes and their histories make that quibble;
though even they themselves admit that they imagine that
Nestorius taught that after His birth from Mary, Christ
became God, or was united to God in one Person. Their
conscience or their misunderstanding forced them to this,
since they had to admit that Nestorius did not teach that
there was more than one single Christ.
The question then is, What was Nestorius condemned for,
and why was this third great council held against him, if he
taught nothing else except that Christ was true God and
man, and was one Christ, not two, i.e., one Person in two
natures, as we all believe, and as the whole Church has
believed from the beginning? For it appears that the pope
and his followers have invented the story that Nestorius held
Christ for a mere man and not also for God, and that he held
Christ for two Persons, or two Christs. This appears, I say,
not only from the histories, but from the very words of the
popes and their writers. What, then, was Nestorius' error,
so that we may know the cause of this council ?
You may read it for yourself in a page or two of the
Tripartite History, Book XII, chapter 4,
and can read it in half of a quarter of an hour. There is
written everything that can actually be known about Nesto-
rius and this council. See if I hit it. The fault was this:
Nestorius was a proud, unlearned man, and when he became
a great bishop and patriarch, he thought that he must be
considered the most learned man on earth, and needed
neither to read any of the books of his forbears or of other
people, nor to learn to speak after their fashion. On the
contrary, since he was eloquent with a loud voice, he wanted
to be a self-made Doctor or Master, and would have it
that whatever he said was right. With this pride, he at-
tacked the statement that Mary was the mother, or bearer of
218 On the Councils and the Churches
God. Then he found other proud bishops who were not
pleased with his pride, especially Cyril of Alexandria, 1 for
there was no Augustine or Ambrose at hand. Nestorius had
learned In the church of Antioch that Christ was true God
begotten of the Father (the belief defended in the Council
of Nicsea) and afterwards born of the Virgin Mary, as true
man. Nestorius had no doubts on either of these points;
nay, he persecuted the Arians, condemned in the Nicene
Council, so violently that he caused many deaths and much
bloodshed by it. So firmly did he hold that Christ is true
God and man.
Moreover, he admitted that Christ, God's Son, was born
of the Virgin Mary according to His humanity, not accord-
ing to His divinity, as we, and all Christians, also say. But
there he struck a difficulty. He would not have it that Mary
should be called, on that account, mother of God, since Christ
was not born of her according to His divinity ; or, to speak
plainly, he believed that Christ did not have His deity
from her, as He had His humanity. That was his whole
fight ! God cannot be born or have His divine nature from
a human being ; and a human being cannot bear God or give
God His divine nature. The unlearned, rude, proud man
stood on the phrase, "God born of Mary," and interpreted
*1>orn" by grammar or philosophy, as though it meant to
have the nature of deity from the one who bore Him. Thus
the Tripartita says, "He held these words in abomina-
tion"; and so do we and all Christians, if we understand
them in that sense.
From this it is evident that Nestorius, an ignorant and
proud bishop, thinks of Christ in a really serious way, but,
in his ignorance, does not know what he is saying. He has
no right to speak of such matters, and yet he would be a
M a g i s t e r and speak of them. We, too, know very well
that Christ did not derive His deity from Mary ; but it does
not follow that it must, therefore, be false to say, "God was
born of Mary" and "God is Mary's Son" and "Mary is
God's mother." I must give you a plain illustration. If a
1 Bishop of Alexandria, 412-44, the great opponent of Neatorius and the chief
literary defender of the orthodox Christology.
On the Councils and the Churches 219
woman bears a child, a worthless Nestorius (so the Tri-
partita calls him!) can be proud and ignorant, and raise
the quibble, "This woman has borne the child, but she is not
its mother, for the reason that the soul of the child is not of
her nature or blood, but is infused from elsewhere, i.e., from
God. Therefore, this child is, indeed, born of the woman
according to the body; but since its soul is not from her
body, she is not the child's mother, because she is not the
mother of its soul."
Such a wretched sophist does not deny that the two na-
tures, body and soul, are one person; nor does he say that
there are two persons, or two children; but he confesses
that two natures, body and soul, are one person, or one
child, and that the mother has borne not two children, but
one; but he does not see what he is denying or what he is
saying. Just such' a man was Nestorius. He admits that
Christ is God and man in one Person; but since His deity
does not come from His mother, Mary, she ought not to be
called the mother of God. This was rightly condemned in
the council, and ought to be condemned. Although Nestorius
holds a right opinion on one point of the main matter, viz.,
that Christ is God and man, nevertheless, the other point is
not to be endured. It is expressed in words and sayings,
like "God was not born of Mary and was not crucified by
the Jews." The sophist says correctly, on one point, that
the mother cannot bear, or give, the child's soul, but it is
not to be endured when he says that the child is not the
mother's natural child and the mother not the child's natural
mother.
In a word, the proud unlearned bishop started a Greek,
that is, a bad quarrel as the Roman Cicero says of the Greeks,
Jam diu torquet controversia verbi homi-
nes gracculos, contentions cupidiores,
quam veritatis. 1 He who admits that a mother has
borne a child, which is both body and soul, ought also to
say and believe that the mother has borne the whole child,
*f?*This long time controversy over words tortures the little Greeks, who are
more zealous for contention than for truth.'' Cicero, de o r a t o r e , 1, XL
220 On the Councils and the Churches
and is its mother, even though she may not be the mother
of its souL Otherwise it would have to follow that no
woman would be the mother of a child, and the command-
ment, "Honor thy father and mother" would be abolished.
It should, therefore, be said that Mary is the true, natural
mother of the child called Jesus Christ, and the true mother
and bearer of God. Thus whatever else can be said of
children's mothers can be said of her; they suckle their
children, bathe them, give them food and drink, and Mary
suckled God, rocked God, made broth and soup for God.
For God and man are one Person, one Christ, one Son, one
Jesus, not two persons, not two Christs, not two sons, not
two Jesuses ; just as your son is not two sons, two Hanses,
two shoemakers, etc., even though he has two natures, body
and soul, body from you, soul from God alone.
Nestorius' error, then, is not that he holds Christ to be a
mere man or that he makes two Persons of Him; on the
contrary he confesses that there are two natures in one Per-
son > but he will not admit a communicatio idio-
m a t u m . I cannot say that in German in one word.
I d i o m a means that which attaches to a nature, or is its
property, such as dying, suffering, weeping, laughing, eat-
ing, drinking, sleeping, sorrowing, rejoicing, being born,
having a mother, sucking the breast, walking, standing,
working, sitting, lying down, and other things of the kind.
These are called idiomata humanae naturae,
that is, properties that attach to a man by nature, things
that he can, or even must, do or suffer ; for i d i o m a in
Greek is the same thing as proprium in Latin. Let us
call it "property." 1 Again, idioma deitatis, is a
property of divine nature, such as to be immortal, omnipo-
tent, infinite, not to be born, or eat, drink, sleep, stand, walk,
sorrow, weep. Why say more? To be God is an immeas-
urably different thing than to be a man. Therefore the
idiomata of the two natures cannot coincide. That is
the opinion of Nestorius. Now if I preached thus : "Jesus,
the carpenter of Nazareth (for so the Gospels call
On the Councils and the Churches 221
f i 1 i u m f a b r i 1 ) , goes on the street and brings his mother Matt -
a pitcher of water and a pennyworth of bread, to eat and 13:55
drink with her; and this carpenter, Jesus, is real, true God
in one Person"; then Nestorius would grant me that and
say that was true. But if I were to say: "God goes on the
street, and gets water and bread, to eat with His mother" ;
then Nestorius would not admit that, but would say, "Get-
ting water, buying bread, having a mother, eating and drink-
ing with her,' these are i d i o m a t a , properties, of human
not of divine nature/' Therefore, if I were to say: "The
carpenter, Jesus, was crucified by the Jews, and this same
Jesus is true God," Nestorius would say that this was true.
But if I say, "God was crucified by the Jews/* he says, "No !
The Cross, suffering and death are not the idioma, or
property, of divine, but of human nature."
If ordinary Christians hear this, they can think nothing
else than that he holds Christ to be a mere man, and sepa-
rates the persons, which he does not intend to do, though his
words make it appear that he is doing it. Thus it is appar-
ent what an altogether mad saint and ignorant man he was ;
for after admitting that God and man were united and
mingled in one Person, he can nowise avoid the conclusion
that the idiomata of the two natures should also be
united and mingled. Otherwise what would it mean, to say
that God and man are united in one Person? His folly is
exactly that against which it is taught in the schools, Qui
concedit antecedens bonae consequentiae,
non potest negare consequens f in German we
say, "If the one thing is true, the other must be; if the second
is not true, neither is the first/ 5 Anyone who admits that
Crete is your wife, cannot deny that her child is your child,
if she is a good wife. When these things are taught in the
schools, no one can believe that there can be anybody crude
enough to deny them ; but ask the governors and the jurists
whether they have not often had parties before them who
confess one thing and will not admit the consequences of it
1 "The carpenter's son."
3 "One who admits the premise of a good conclusion, cannot deny tktf
conclusion."
222 On the Councils and the Churches
It might be alleged that Nestorius had been acting the
rascal when he confessed that Christ was God, and one Per-
son. No ! The proud man was not clever enough for that ;
he meant it seriously. In one of his sermons, says the
Tripartita, he cried, "Nay, my dear Jew, you need
not act so proudly! You could not crucify God." What
he would say is that Christ is God, but God was not cruci-
fied. And in the council, in the presence of Bishop Cyril,
he says, "Many confess that Christ is God, but I shall never
say that God isbitris ortrinitris" 1 that is to say,
"Jesus is God, as many of us confess, but that God is born
two or three times, that I shall not teach." What is in his
mind, as the Tr i p a r t i t a indicates, 3 is that God and death
do not agree together, for he thinks it terrible to hear that
God died. His meaning was that, according to His divinity,
Christ is immortal ; but he had not enough brains to express
it that way. Then there is the added fact that the other
bishops were also proud, and did not consider how the
wounds could be healed, but how they could be torn open
and made worse.
Speaking logically, then, it must follow from Nestorius'
opinion, that Christ is a mere man and two persons ; but that
was not his opinion, for the crude, unlearned man did not
see that he was proposing the impossible when he seriously
held Christ to be God and man in one Person and, at the
same time, would not ascribe the idiomata of the two
natures to the Person of Christ. He wants to hold the first
statement as true, but he will not grant that which follows
out of that first statement. Thus he shows that he himself
does not rightly understand what he is denying.
We Christians must ascribe all the idiomata of the
two natures to His Person. Christ is God and man in one
Person. Therefore what is said of Him as man must also
be said of Him as God, viz., Christ died, and Christ is God,
therefore God died ; not God apart from humanity, but God
united with humanity. Of God apart from humanity both
statements are false, viz., Christ is God and God died. Both
* "Doable or triple." *XII, 5.
On the Councils and the Churches 223
are false, for God is not man. But if Nestorius thinks it
strange that God dies, he should remember that it is also
strange that God becomes man, for thereby the immortal
God becomes something that must die, suffer, and have all
the human i d i o m a t a . What would that man be, with
whom God is personally united, if he were not to have true
human i d i o m a t a ? He would have to be a phantom, as
the Manichseans had taught* On the other hand, what is
said of God must also be ascribed to the man, i.e., God
created the world and is almighty ; the man Christ is God ;
therefore, the man Christ created the world and is almighty.
The reason for this is that God and man have become one
Person and therefore the Person bears the idiomata of
both natures.
Ah, Lord God! Over this blessed, comforting article
men ought always rejoice, in true faith, without disputes and
without doubts! We ought to sing, and give praise and
thanks to God the Father, that He has allowed His dear Son
to become like us, a man and our brother ! But that wretched
Satan, through proud and ambitious and wicked people,
raises up such bad feeling that this dear and blessed joy
must be hindered and spoiled! We Christians must know
that if God is not in the scale to give it weight, our side of
the scale sinks to the ground. That is to say, if it cannot be
said that God, not a mere man, died for us, we are lost.
But if God's death and a dying God are in the balance, His
side goes down and ours comes up, as though it were light
and empty; but He can also leap up again, or spring out of
the scale. He could not be in the scale, however, unless He
had become a man like us, so that we could speak of God
dying, 'God's suffering, God's blood, God's death. For in
His own nature, God cannot die; but when God and man
are united in one Person, then, if the man dies with whom
God is one thing, or one Person, then it can be truly called
God's death.
1 Manichseism had a place for Jesus, as the manifestation of light, which it
held to be equivalent with good, but the Manichaan, doctrine of matter, which
made it all evil, prevented the acceptance of His humanity. See Realencyk.
12, 193 ff., Cf . E n c . of Religion and Ethics, 8, 398.
Vol. V 15
224 On the Councils and the Churches
Besides, this council condemned too little of Nestorius*
doctrine. It dealt only with the one i d i o m a , viz., that
God was born of Mary. Therefore, the histories say that,
in this council it was resolved, against Nestorius, that Mary
should be called theotokos, "the one who bore God,"
though Nestorius denied to God in Christ all the idio-
m a t a of the human nature such as death, cross, passion,
and everything that is not suitable to God. They ought,
therefore, to have resolved, not only that Mary was t h e o -
tokos, but also that Pilate and the Jews were crucifiers
and murderers of God. Afterwards, indeed, he was con-
demned with reference to all the i d i o m a t a , by saying,
"Nestorius denies that Christ is God and one Person." That
is true in effect and in logic, 1 but it is too blunt and far-
fetched, and Nestorius could get no other idea from it than
that he was being treated unjustly and wrongly ; for he had
never taught that in so many words, but, on the contrary,
had always said that Christ was real and true God and was
not two persons, and he had persecuted the Arians hard in
behalf of this belief. People like him cannot make syllogisms
or draw logical conclusions, and see that one who denies
theidiomata,or properties, of a nature, can be said to
deny the substance, or nature, itself. The decision should
have run thus, "Although Nestorius confesses that Christ
is true God and man, one Person ; nevertheless, since he does
not grant the i d i o m a t a of the human nature to the divine
Person of Christ, he is wrong, and it is the same as if he
had denied the nature itself." And they ought not to have
picked out the one i d i o m a , which concerned His mother,
Mary. In that way, the case of this council would have
been more clearly understood and it is my opinion that very-
few people have understood it heretofore. From Platina 3
and his ilk, it is impossible to understand it.
I, too, have had to deal with Nestorians, and they fought
conseqti enti.
*Bartolomeo Sacchi of Piadena, best known as Platina (1421-81). Under
Pope Sixtus IV, he was director of the Vatican library. Hia Lives of
the Popes (Vitae Romanorum Pantificum) was, in Luther's
day, the best available source of information for the history of the papacy. See
Ljather als Kirchen historiker pp. 127 ff.
On the Councils and the Churches 225
against me very stubbornly, saying that the deity of Christ
could not suffer. 1 For example, even Zwingli wrote against Modem
me concerning the text, Verbum caro f actum est .*
He simply would not have it that f a c t u m should agree
with v e r b u m , but would have it read, Verbum caro
fact a est, 8 for the reason that God could not be made 1:U
anything/ At that time I did not know that that was the
notion of Nestorius, because I did not understand the coun-
cil, but I recognized the error of it from the Holy Scrip-
tures, Augustine, and the Master of Sentences. 6 Who knows
how many Nestorians there are under the papacy, who
boast greatly about this council, and do not know of what it
is that they are boasting? The human reason would be wise
on this point and hot suffer it that God should die or have
a human kind of being, even though it believes, because of
custom, that Christ is God, as did Nestorius.
So, then, this council established nothing new concerning
the faith, as was said above, but defended the old faith
against the new opinions of Nestorius, and we cannot use
it as an example, or grant, because of it, that the councils
have power to fix new or different articles of faith. This
article was in the Church from the very first, and was not
newly made by the council, but was preserved by the Gos-
pel, or the Holy Scriptures. There it stands, in St. Luke i, Luke
that the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that 1: 2
that which should be born of her was the Son of the Highest ; Luke
and St. Elizabeth asks, "Whence cometh it that the mother 1*2
of the Lord should come to me?" All the angels, at Christ- Luke 2:4
mas, say, "To you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord." Moreover, St. Paul says, in Galatians iv, "God GaL 4:4
sent His Son, born of a womaii." These texts, I know for
sure, hold firmly enough that Mary is mother of God. So J Cor -
St. Paul says, in I Corinthians ii, "The princes of this world
*i.e. That Luther's teaching was incompatible with helief in the deity of
Christ.
a "The Word was made flesk"
* "The flesh was made Word."
*In the Sacramentarian Controversy. Cf. Luther's statement in Vom
Abendmahl Christi Bekenntnis, of 1528 (Weimar Ed.
XXVI, 317). See note in Weimar Ed. L r 591.
'Peter, the Lombard.
226 On the Councils and the Churches
Acts crucified the Lord of Majesty" ; and in Acts xx, "God has
20:28 purchased the Church with His own blood" (though God has
PHI. no blood, if we are to judge by human reason) ; and in
2;6f. Philippians ii, "Christ, though He was equal to God, became
a servant and was found in the fashion of all men" ; and the
childrens' creed, Symbolum Apostolorum, says,
"I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was
conceived, born of Mary, suffered, was crucified, dead, bur-
ied," etc. There stand the idiom at a of human nature
plain enough, and they are ascribed to the only Son and
Lord, Whom we believe to be equal to the Father, and true
God* Let this be enough about this council.
The fourth great council was held at Chalcedon
S^a in Pontus, or Asia, about twenty-two or twenty-three years
of chai- after the third great council, by the Emperor Marcian, who
ced " tt was Emperor at Constantinople after Theodosius II. 1 It
was in the year 455. a Thus the four great councils were
held within the space of one hundred and thirty years, for
the council at Nicaea was held in 327, 8 but before them and
along with them and after them, there were many other coun-
cils, held here and there by the bishops themselves, without
the emperors. These four, however, could not come together
without the emperors. Such very faulty men were the holy
fathers that it was not easy for one of them to yield to an-
other, as the histories, unfortunately, show. And this is a
special consolation for us, to show us that we need not de-
spair; since the Holy Ghost was in some of these fathers
and they had to be holy and be saved.
What the reason for this council was, I myself would be
The glad to learn from someone else, for there is no trustworthy
Actaal history that comes down this far. The Ecclesiastic a*
"History
enc * s w &h ^ e fi rst council, that of Nicaea; the Tripar-
tit a and Theodoret 5 with the third council, at Ephesus;
from that point on we must believe the histories of the popes
^Marcian's dates are 450-58. a The actual date was 451. Actually 325.
* Eusebitts* Ecclesiastical History. Luther used it in Rufinus*
translation.
c Theodoret ends with the year 428. Luther seems to have known his work
only through the excerpts in the Tripartita.
On the Councils and the Churches 227
and their followers only, and to believe them is a dubious
procedure, for strong and evident reasons. Up to the pres-
ent time, they have so drawn everything into their own
hands, and have told and still tell such lies about their own
majesty, that no one can build any certainty upon them.
Now advise me how I am going to be saved, since I do not
understand this council or know what it did? And what
has become of the dear saints and Christians who, through
all these centuries, have not known what this council estab-
lished? For there must always be saints on earth, and if
they die, other saints must live, from the world's beginning
to its end or the article of the Creed would be false, "I be-
lieve one holy, Christian Church, a communion of saints/'
and Christ would have been lying, when He said, "I am 28:20
with you until the end of the world." There must, I say,
always be living saints on earth, wherever they may be, or
Christ's Kingdom would have an end and there would be no
one to pray the Lord's Prayer, confess the Creed, be bap-
tized, go to the Sacrament, be absolved, etc.
Well, then, Platina and others say that this was the reason
for it. There was at Constantinople an abboV they called
him Archimandrite,' named Eutyches, who brought out
against Nestorius another doctrine, and taught that Christ
was one Person, in the divine nature only. Against this,
the fathers in the council determined that Christ is one Per-
son and two natures ; and this is true and is the Christian
faith. According to the pope's histories, however, he taught
that after the deity had taken on humanity and Christ had
thus become one Person, only the deity remained and Christ
is to be considered only God, and not man. If that was
Eutyches' opinion, he is almost another Nestorius, who is
said to have taught that Christ is two persons and yet one
Person, for Eutyches must also have taught that in Christ
there are two persons, and yet only one Person; and Pope
Leo says in a letter that Eutyches and Nestorius teach con-
tradictory heresies. 1 And, indeed, it is true that he who
teaches that Christ is two and yet one in person or nature
*Pope Leo I (440-461). Th letter referred to is Ep. LX, to Maximus of
Aatioch.
228 On the Councils and the Churches
and, again, that in Christ there are two natures and yet one
nature, is teaching 1 contradictions, nay, self-contradictions.
If the papists had known, however, that these were not
the opinions of Nestorius and Eutyches, they ought prop-
erly to have refrained from such language and spoken a
little more plainly and in terminis propriis, i.e.,
they ought to have used their very words. Otherwise the
heretics think that they are being treated unjustly and over-
come with false words and false interpretations of their
words, as I said above about Nestorius.
That Eutyches did not hold that there was only one
nature in Christ appears from the papists' own words, when
they say, Eutyches confessed that there are two natures in
Christ, viz., the deity assumed humanity. One who con-
fesses this says that Christ has more than one nature. But
they do not tell us what Eutyches means by saying that after-
wards only the divine nature in Christ remained, without
the human nature. Thus they let the matter hang in the
air, as though Eutyches had held, at the same time, that Christ
had two natures and not two, but one. Thus the histories
afterwards become uncertain and obscure, so that no one can
understand what Eutyches meant or what the pope's his-
tories mean, and thus they lost this council and the reason
for its assembling. We cannot find it from the histories of
the councils or the papal letters. On the other hand, the
pope's historians ought not to write so roughly and clum-
sily, and babble out their own words to us, unless we are
to gather from them that they understood this council almost
as well as I do.
I shall speak out my own ideas. If I hit the mark, well
and good ; if not, the Christian faith will not fall. Eutyches'
opinion, like that of Nestorius, is wrong on the subject of
the idiomata, but in a different way. Nestorius will
not ascribe the idioinata of humanity to- the divinity in
Christ, though he stands firm in the belief that Christ is God
and man. Eutyches, on the other hand, will not ascribe the
idiomata of divinity to the humanity, though he holds,
with equal firmness, that Christ is true God and man. It is
On the Councils and the Churches 229
as though I preached that the Word, God's Son, is creator Jofcn 1:3
of heaven and earth, equal to the Father in eternity, and that John
Word, the same Son of God, is true man. This Eutyches i:i3f,
grants me. He has no doubts about that. But if I go
on and preach that this man Christ is creator of heaven and
earth, Eutyches stumbles and is outraged at the words, "A
man creates heaven and earth." He says, "No! Such a
divine idiom a as creating heaven and earth, does not befit
man." But he does not stop to think that he has previously
admitted that Christ is true God and man in one Person,
and now will not admit the conclusion, the consequens
bonae consequentiae. 1 For one who confesses
that God and man are one Person must simply and abso-
lutely admit that, because of this union of the two natures
in one Person, this man Christ, born of Mary, is creator of
heaven and earth, since that is what He has become in one
Person, viz., God, who created heaven and earth.
This conclusion Eutyches does not understand and yet
says firmly, "Christ is God and man," not seeing that he
must deny the human nature of Christ, if he refuses to
ascribe the divine idiomatato the human nature. That
would be dividing the Person, and Christ would not be man.
That is what they would show who say of Eutyches that he
did not allow the human nature in Christ to remain, scil-
icet in consequenti, 3 though he confesses, scili-
cet in antecedent!, 8 that the divine and human natures
are one Christ, one Person, and two natures. In a word, as
said above, he who confesses the two natures in Christ, God
and man, must also ascribe the idiomata of both to the
person, for to be God and man is to be nothing, if not to
have the idiomata of both. Therefore, both Nestorius
and Eutyches were rightly condemned because of their error
in understanding Christ.
It is true, to be sure, that Eutyches had, perhaps, a greater
temptation than Nestorius, for many of the human idio-
mata have been left behind by Christ, such as eating, drink-
1 "The conclusion of a valid argument/' Cf, above, p. 221.
***Viz., in his conclusion.'*
**Ia his premise."
230 On the Councils and the Churches
ing, sleeping, sorrowing, suffering, dying, being buried, etc.
He now sits at the right hand of God, and no longer eats,
drinks, sleeps, sorrows, suffers, dies, to all eternity, as will
happen with us also when we pass out of this life, into
Cor. that, according to I Corinthians xv. These are temporal and
15:49, transient i d i o m a t a ; but the i d i o m a t a of the nature
53 remain, such as having body and soul, skin and hair, blood
and flesh, marrow and bones and all the members of a
human nature. Therefore it must be said that this man,
Christ, flesh and blood of Mary, is creator of heaven and
earth, has overcome death, abolished sin, broken hell in
pieces. These are all divine i d i o m a t a , and yet it is
right and Christian to ascribe them all to the Person who is
flesh and blood of Mary, because there are not two persons,
but one.
Your son Peter is called a scholar, though this i d i o m a
is only of the soul, not of the body, and a Eutyches might
juggle with the words, and say, "No ! Peter is not a scholar,
but his soul is." On the other hand, a Nestorius might
say, "No ! I did not flog your son, but only his body." That
would sound as though they would make of Peter two per-
sons, or retain only one nature for him, and yet it would
not be so meant. That is ignorance and stupidity and shows
that they were bad logicians. But that kind of ignorance is
not rare in the world and shows itself in other matters also.
People often admit something and yet deny what must
logically follow from it. That is what is meant by ante -
cedente concesso, negare . cons equ ens .*
There are today many great lords and scholars who confess,
freely and firmly, that our doctrine of faith, which justifies
without merit, by pure grace, is true; and yet they take
offense when it is said that monasticism and worship of
saints and the like should, therefore, be let go and be de-
spised; though logic compels that conclusion. No man can
be justified except by faith ; it follows, that one cannot be
justified by the monastic life. Then why hold cm to it?
What is the use of it?
1 "Admitting the premise and denying the conclusion."
On the Councils and the Churches 231
But I shall take myself, too, by the nose and not be so Lather's
ungrateful as to forget my own folly. Twenty years ago Folly
I taught, as I still do, that faith alone justifies, without
works. If, at that time, however, someone had risen up and
taught that monkery and nunnery ought to be called idol-
atry and the mass an abomination, if I had not helped burn
him at the stake, I should, at least, have believed that burn-
ing at the stake served him right ; and thoughtless fool that
I was! I could not see the consequence, which I ought to
have admitted, viz., that if faith alone does it, monkery and
the mass could not do it. What was still worse, I knew that
these were doctrines and works of men, and yet I did not
ascribe the same value to good works commanded by God
and done in faith. In truth, I gave a fine illustration of my
Nestorius and my Eutyches, though with reference to other
things, when I admitted one thing and did not agree to the
other thing, which followed from it. So Nestorius admits
that Christ is God and man and will not agree that this God
was born and died, though this follows from the first
statement.
Moreover, Luther accuses the papists of teaching neither
faith nor good works, and they, in turn, have no rest, and
accuse Luther still more violently of teaching wrongly con-
cerning the Christian faith and of forbidding good works.
What, then, is the issue ? Why are they not one, since they
confess the same things? I shall tell you. There is a
Nestorius here who has gone astray on the i d i o m a t a .
Luther wants good works, but they are not to have glorious,
divine idiom, ata, so that they make satisfaction for sin,
reconcile God's wrath, and justify sinners. These idio-
mata belong to Another, Whose name is "Lamb of God,
that beareth the sins of the world/' Yea, verily these
i d i o m a t a should be left to the blood and death of Christ ;
good works should have other idiomata, other merits,
other rewards. This the papists do not want, but they
ascribe to good works the power to make satisfaction for
sins and make people righteous. Therefore they cry out that
Luther teaches no good works, but forbids them. They do
not see the logical consequence, however. If one teaches
232 On the Councils and the Churches
good works which make satisfaction for sin, it is just the
same as though one taught no good works at all, for such
good works are nihil in rerum natura, 1 they are
nothing and nowhere, and cannot be. Therefore in the very
act of teaching and confessing good works, firmly and com-
pletely, they teach no good works at all.
Here you see Nestorius' logic. He admits the antecedent
and denies the consequence, and thus he makes the antece-
dent false. If the one is true, the other must also be true
in any real, logical argument On the other hand, if the
latter statement be false, the former must also be false.
Good works make satisfaction for sin, they not only admit
this, but even insist upon it ; but the other statement, viz.,
that such works are not good, nay, are nothing and not
works at all, this they condemn. And yet the latter state-
ment follows compellingly out of the former; for good
works that make satisfaction for sin are the same as no
good works ; just as it follows compellingly, Q u i d o c e t
id quod not est, docet nihil, "He who teaches
what is not, teaches nothing." So one may speak, too, of
faith. He who teaches a faith that does not justify alone
and without works, teaches no faith; for the faith that
justifies with or by works, is nothing at all.
I will give a still plainer illustration. Some jurists admit
that it is right for a priest to many, but do not admit the
consequence, viz., that a priest's children are heirs. 3 That
is the same thing as saying that a priest's marriage is forni-
cation, for if there is a marriage, the child must be an heir ;
if it is not an heir, there is no marriage. This is called in
the schools, negare consequens antecedentis
concessi in bona consequentia, and de~
structo consequente, retinere antece-
dens. 8 This is impossible, and those who do it are known
for gross, ignorant people; but it was the failing of both
Nestorius and Eutyches, as it is of many other people in
other matters. It is sure that both of them were serious in
3 "Not m the nature of things," ie., as things are, there are no such works.
*ie., legitimate.
* "Defying the conclusion of an admitted premise, in a good syllogism," and
"retaining the premise when the conclusion has been destroyed/'
On the Councils and the Churches 233
holding that Christ is God and man in one Person, as we
gather from the histories, and even from the acts of the
councils, and yet they could not agree to the result, or con-
clusion, that the Person, Who is God and man, was crucified
and made the heavens, but thought that Christ could not be
crucified and man could not make the heavens.
And what shall we say of ourselves? The apostles at
Jerusalem, together with many thousands of the Jews, had
been justified by faith alone, i.e., by the grace of Christ;
but they had their Nestorius and Eutyches sticking in them
and did not see the consequence, viz., that the law of Moses
did not and could not contribute anything to this, but wanted
to give it the i d i o m a t a which belong only to the Lamb of
God, and said, as we have noted above, 1 that the Gentiles
could not be saved, unless they were circumcised and kept the
law of Moses. That was the same thing as denying Christ
and His grace, as St. Paul says in Galatians ii, "If right- Gal * 2:21
eousness come by the law, then Christ has died in vain'*;
and in Romans xi, "If it is of grace, then it is not of works."
But those at Jerusalem spoke thus : "It is, indeed, grace alone,
but it must also be works alone ; for without the law, no one
can be saved, though a man must be saved by grace alone,
without the law." In plain German, that is cutting off one's
own nose, a and not understanding what one says. The
schools call it, as I have said, antecedens conce-
de r e , and consequens negare; or conse-
quens destruere and antecedens affirm-
are.* It is saying Yes and No at the same time about the
same thing. This no one must do, unless he is utterly igno-
rant or a hopeless scoffer.
That is what my Antinomians,* too, are doing today. They
1 See above, pp. 188 f.
a S 5 c h selbs in die Backen hauen, "chopping oneself in the
cheeks."
8 "Granting the premise and denying the conclusion," or "destroying the
conclusion and affirming the premise.*'
* The party whose spokesman was Luther's old friend and follower. John
Agricola of Eislebeo. Through the years 1536-39, he had been uttering opin-
ions that conflicted sharply with Luther's own. The subject of their difference
was the meaning and purpose of the law; Luther held that the purpose of
God's law was to lead men to knowledge of sin and so to repentance; Agricola
taught that repentance was possible only through the knowledge of the good-
ness of God revealed in the gospel. Luther accused Agricola of abolishing the
234 On the Councils and the Churches
are preaching finely and (I can think nothing else) with
real seriousness about Christ's grace, the forgiveness of
^.^ ^^ ^ ^ er things that can be said concerning re-
demption. But they fiee the consequence of this, as though
It were the very devil, and will not speak to the people about
the Third Article, 1 which is sanctification, i.e., the new life
in Christ. For they think that they ought not to terrify
people, or disturb them, but always to preach in a comfort-
ing way about grace and the forgiveness of sins in Christ,
and utterly avoid such words as these : "Listen ! You want
to be a Christian and yet remain an adulterer, fornicator,
drunken swine, proud, covetous, a usurer, envious, revenge-
ful, malicious 1" On the contrary, they say : "Listen ! Though
you are an adulterer, a fornicator, a miser, or any other kind
of sinner, only believe, and you will be saved and need not
fear the law ; Christ has fulfilled it all !"
Tell me, is that not granting the premise and denying the
conclusion ? Nay, it is taking away Christ and bringing Him
to nought, at the same time that He is most highly preached.
It is saying Yes and No to the same thing. There is no such
Christ, Who has died for these sinners who, after forgive-
ness of sins, do not leave their sins and lead a new life. Thus
they finely preach the logic of Nestorious and Eutyches, that
Christ is this and is yet not this. They are fine Easter
preachers, but shamefully poor Pentecost preachers, for
they preach nothing de sanctificatione et vivi-
ficatione Spiritus Sancti, i.e., concerning sancti-
fication by the Holy Ghost, but preach only about redemp-
tion by Christ, though Christ, Whom they extol so highly
(and rightly so!) is Christ, i.e., He has purchased redemp-
tion from sin and death, in order that the Holy Ghost shall
make new men of us, in place of the old Adam, so that we
die unto sin and live unto righteousness, as St. Paul teaches
in Romans vi, beginning and increasing this life here on
earth, and completing it yonder. What Christ has earned
for us is not only gratia, "grace," but also donum,
real purpose of the law and debasing the gospel. Only a few months before
the present work was written, Luther had published the last of a series o
writings against Agricda, See Weimar Ed-, L f 461 ff.
1 The third article of the Creed. Cf . Luther's Catechism,
On the Councils and the Churches 235
the "gift" of the Holy Ghost, so that we might not only
have forgiveness of sin, but also cease from sinning. Who-
ever, then, does not cease from sinning, but continues in his
former wicked life, must have another Christ from the
Antinomians, for the real Christ is not there, even though
all the angels were to cry only "Christ! Christ!"; and he
must be damned with his new Christ.
See what bad logicians we are in high matters, which are
above us or in which we are not practiced, so that at one
and the same time, we can believe a thing and not believe it!
In lower things, however, we are very keen logicians! A
farmer, however stupid he may be, understands and reckons
it out at once that he who gives me a groschen gives
me no gulden, for it follows as a matter of course, and
he sees the logic clearly. But our Antinomians do not see
that they preach Christ without the Holy Ghost and against
the Holy Ghost, because they are willing to let the people
continue in their old life, and yet declare them saved, though
the logic of it is that a Christian should have the Holy Ghost
and lead a new life, or know that he has no Christ. These
asses, then, want to be better logicians than Master Philip 1
and Aristotle, to say nothing of Luther, The pope alone
must feel them; they fly too high for me. So, then, the logic
of Nestorius and Eutyches is a common plague, especially
in matters of Holy Scripture; in other matters it knows how
to conduct itself. To be sure, it gives the jurists and rulers
trouble enough in subtle cases, where they sometimes hear
Yes and No at once and have difficulty in telling them apart.
Now if Eutyches or Nestorius, after being instructed by
the bishops remained stiff and proud in his opinion, though
I cannot determine this, according to the histories, then
they were justly condemned, not only as heretics, but as
gross fools. But if they did not stand stiffly on their own
opinions (and the acts of the councils report that Eutyches,
especially, did not) and the bishops condemned them with-
out giving kindly instruction to the erring ones, according to
Paul's teaching, in Galatians vi, even then they judged the
case aright, though they will have to answer to the true
236 On the Councils and the Churches
Judge for their pride and hasty action (for these councils
have attained great reputation and there were more than six
hundred and thirty bishops at this one).
I remember Master John Wesel, 1 who was preacher at
Mainz and formerly ruled the University of Erfurt with
his books, from which I myself got my Master's degree
there, how he was condemned by the abandoned, proud
murderers, known as ^inquisitors (I ought to say 'inven-
tors') of heresy/' Dominicans, because he would not say "I
believe that there is a God," but "I know that there is a
God" ; for all the schools held that the existence of God is
Rom. known of itself, as St. Paul also says in Romans L How
1:19 the barefoot murderers at Eisenach dealt with John Hilten
is told in the Apology. 3
Suppose that, without any warning, there were to come
to you and me an honorable man, who could make the case
sound strange with the uncouthness of his words, and he
were to say : "I want to tell you ! A new prophet has arisen
who teaches that if a man is entirely holy, he cannot only
do miracles, but create heaven and earth, and all that is in
them, and angels, making them out of nothing, as some of
the scholastic doctors have argued in discussing Book IV
of the Sentences, 8 What is still worse, he says that the
old God is dead, etc." Here you and I would say: "This
Mai 3:6 must be the devil and his dam. The Scripture says, 'I am
^ oc ^ an( ^ change not' ; and Paul says, Qui solus i m -
mortalitatem habet. *Who alone hath immortal-
ity/ What is the use of many words ? God lives alone and
is Himself life." Then he would begin : "That is what you
yourself teach. You say that Christ is a man, entirely holy,
*Jahann von Wesel (d. 1479). He taught at Erfurt 1445-57. In 1461 he
became professor of theology at Basel; in 1463, cathedral preacher at Worms.
The criticisms of the Church, expressed in his sermons, caused his deposition
in 1477. He -was then called to a position as preacher in Mainz, but was almost
immediately accused of heresy, and after a trial before a commission which
included the famous Dominican inquisitors Elten and Sprenger, was condemned
to life-imprisonment in a monastery. Because of his vigorous attacks on
indulgences and his clear assertion of the sole authority of Scripture, he is
usually classed among the precursors of Luther. The fullest account of his life
and teaching in UU,MANN, Reformatoren vor der Ref., a (1866), I.
149 fr; Eng. trans., I, 160 ff.
a The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art. XXVII,
GACOBS, Book of Concord, 280 f.) Cf. Realencyk. 8; 78-60.
8 The Sentences of Peter Lombard.
On the Councils and the Churches 237
who made heaven and earth, and that He is also true God,
Who died for you on the Cross." See how we have, all
unwittingly, become blasphemous Nestoriuses and Eutycheses
by confessing that Christ, one Person, has died for us and
has created heaven and earth, though we have just said that
it must be the devil and his dam who says that a man
created heaven and earth and that God died ; and yet logical
Consistency compels us to say this, because we believe that
Christ is God and man in one Person. There you see how
the idiomata get thoughtless people all mixed up and
lead them astray unwittingly. In such a case we ought to
come along with gentle instruction, and not proudly condemn
those who have erred. God grant that I may not be telling
the truth, but I fear that at the Last Day some heretics will
be judges and some of the bishops who have judged them
will be condemned. "God is wonderful and incomprehen-
sible in His judgments" though we know that "He is t
gracious to the humble and resisteth the proud" ; and espe- j p^
daily in the ranks of those who have a place in the councils 5:5
and the Church, nothing should be done from zelo, i.e.,
envy and pride. God cannot suffer it.
These are my ideas about Eutyches. If I have not hit the
mark, I have missed it ; and it is their fault. Why did they
not treat the subject better and describe it more diligently
so that it could be understood more clearly? And what would
we do if the acts of this council were lost? The Christian faith
would not sink. More things and better things than the acts
of this council have been lost. St. Augustine himself com-
plains that he finds almost nothing in the writings of his
predecessors that help him against Pelagius, and yet such
a great matter must have been much discussed. I have
formed my ideas in accordance with the words of the
Roman bishop Leo who says 1 that the heresies of Eutyches
and Nestorius are opposite and contradictory of one another.
Now it is certain from the Tripartita, that Nestorius
confessed, even violently, that Christ is true God and man
and was no Arian ; for the Arians held that Christ is simply
*Leo I, Ep. CLXV T c. 2. Cf. Ep. CXXIV. (N iccne an d Post-N i-
cen,e Fathers, Second Series, p. 91.
238 On the Councils and the Churches
not God, and he drove them out and persecuted them even
to the point of murder and slaughter. But his heresy lay
in this, that the idiom at a confused him and led him
astray so that he could not see how God could "be born of a
woman and crucified. Therefore, Eutyches' opposite heresy
must have been that he did, indeed, hold Christ for God and
man but would not give the idiomata of the divine na-
ture to the man, just as Nestorius would not ascribe the
idiomata of the human nature to God, in the one Person
of Christ. This is what is meant by saying that the two are
opposite and contradictory.
If it was his intention simply to deny the human nature in
Christ, then his heresy is not the opposite of that of Nestor-
ius, but he must have been raving mad to think that in Christ
deity and humanity were united and yet that only one nature,
the divine, remained. That would have been opposed not
only to Nestorius but to all believers and unbelievers, to all
heretics and true Christians, to all heathen and all men ; for
no man ever taught a thing like that. Nevertheless they de-
scribe these matters in such a way as to testify that Eutyches
confessed that in Christ deity and humanity were united in
one Person, and yet they say the other thing also, 1 as though
they intended that nobody should understand it; therefore
we will not understand it. Why should we, when we have
a better understanding of it already. Eutyches said in the
council that he had not spoken words like those of which
they accused him when he was said to have denied the
human nature. From this one can mark that he was in
error and did not wish to deny the human nature in Christ
But if I were Doctor Luther, I would like to hear from these
papal writers how they themselves could believe their own
words, when they said that Nestorious held that there were
two persons in Christ and yet only one person, and that
Eutyches held that there were two natures in Christ and yet
only one nature. I think, indeed, that they, too, are Nes-
torian and Eutychian logicians; I say nothing about their
theology; perhaps they are compelled to be antilogicians.
that Christ had only one nature.
On the Councils and the Churches 239
To come back to the council ! We find that here, too, this The
council established no new article of faith, and so cannot be ^ cil
used as a proof that councils have power to load new articles NO New
of faith upon the Church. For this article is far more Articl <
abundantly and mightily grounded in Scripture, as in John v,
"The Father hath given power to the Son to execute judg- ^* 27
ment, because he is the Son of man." Here, according to
Eutyches' opinion, Christ would have had to say, "Because
he is the Son of God." For to execute judgment is an
i d i o m a of the divine nature and not of the human nature ;
but Christ ascribes it to His human nature, the Son of man,
i.e., the son of the Virgin Mary. In Matthew xxii, also, Matt ;
Christ asks the Pharisees how it agrees that David calls 22:43
Christ "Lord," though He is to be his son and his seed.
"If He is David's son, or seed, how, then, does He sit at
the right hand of God?" Here Eutyches would have had to
say that not David's seed, but only God's son can sit at the
right hand of God. Nevertheless he confesses that David's
son and God's Son are one person; but where the person
sits, there sits God's Son and David's. Eutyches did not see
this consequence, and therefore had to let men think that
he held Christ to be not a man, but only a divine person and
nature, though this was not what he meant.
In a word, all the prophets and all the Scriptures which
ascribe to Christ, or Messiah, an everlasting kingdom and
redemption from sin, death, and hell are all against Eutyches,
for they all say that "the seed of the woman shall trample
on the head of the serpent," (Genesis iii), that is, shall Gen.3:is
overcome sin, death, devil, hell; and these are idiomata
of divine nature, not of the woman's seed. And all the
world is to be blessed through the seed of Abraham (Gen- G ^. lg
esis xxii), that is, sin, death, hell, the curse of God, are to
be taken away, and these, too, are idio-mata not of
Abraham's seed, but of divine nature. Later on, the glorious,
mighty prophecies of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the
prophets say of David's seed that he shall establish eternal jer.
righteousness, that is, abolish sin, death, and hell; these are 23:5
idiomata of divine majesty and nature, and yet they are
VoL V 16
240 On the Councils and the Churches
ascribed, throughout the Scriptures, to the son of David,
Christ, the son of the Virgin Mary. Even though I have
not this council or do not understand it aright, nevertheless,
I have these Scriptures and understand them aright, and it
is the duty of the council to hold what they teach ; and for
me that is more certain than all councils.
Anyone who will may read further into the story of this
council ; I have read myself into a bad humor with it. There
is in it so much quarreling and disturbance and disorder that
I must almost believe the great Nazianzen/ the teacher of
St. Jerome, who lived before this time 3 and saw better
councils and fathers, and yet says, "To tell the truth, one
ought to flee all the councils of bishops, for I have never
seen any good results from the councils, not even the aboli-
tion of evil, but only ambition, disputes over precedence,
etc." 8 I wonder how it happens that they have not long
since made him out the worst of heretics because of these
words. But what he says is true. In the councils the bishops
are ambitious, proud, quarrelsome, and violent ; and you will
find that in this council, though it is not necessary, to be
sure, that all who teach correctly or uphold correct doctrine
shall be holy men. Balaam was a true prophet and Judas
24:17 was a true apostle and the Pharisees sit in Moses 5 seat and
io:4 teach correctly. We, too, therefore, must have for our
faith something more and something more certain than the
Hatt, councils. That something more and more certain is the
23:2 Holy Scriptures.
That he speaks the truth when he says that he has seen
no good result of the councils, the histories plainly teach us.
c<wncfl For before the Nicene Council the Arian heresy was a jest
of Coa- compared with the misery that it created after the council,
****** as was said above. So it went also with the other councils,
as in the cases of Macedonius and Nestorius, for the party
that was condemned held together all the more firmly, wanted
to justify itself and be uncondemned, and fanned the flame
more violently than before against the councils, which did
1 Gregory of Nanzianzus, Patriarch of Constantinople at the time of the Second
General Council, 381.
*ie. Before the Council of Cnalcedan.
* E p . IV, to Procopius. Cf. Weimar Ed. L, 604, note a.
On the Councils and the Churches 241
not rightly understand them. So it happened to us Ger-
mans at the Council of Constance The pope was made sub-
ject to the council and was deposed by it and his tyranny
and simony were severely condemned. But since that time
the pope is possessed with seven worse devils and his
tyranny and simony have just gotten a good start. He
devours and robs and steals all the endowed places, the
monastic houses and the churches; he sells indulgences,
grace, law, God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost; he betrays,
ruins, and disturbs emperor and kings ; he makes war, sheds
blood, and kills bodies and souls, so that one must compre-
hend what god it is who keeps house at Rome. This is the
reward we Germans have for deposing and reforming the
popes at the Council of Constance. I think, indeed, that this
was the right end for this council. Depose more popes next
time, and reform them, if seven devils are not enough for
them, so that there may be seventy-seven legions of them to
fight against you; if, indeed, there is any room there for
more devils to get into them and they are not already filled
up with devils. This was the reformation of the Council
of Constance.
We now have the four chief councils and the causes for
which they were held. The first, at Nicaea, defended the
deity of Christ against Arms ; the second, at Constantinople,
defended the deity of the Holy Ghost against Macedonius;
the third, at Ephesus, defended the one Person of Christ
against Nestorius; the fourth, at Chalcedon, defended the
two natures in Christ against Eutyches : but they did not
thereby establish any new article of faith. For these four
articles are established fair more abundantly and powerfully
in St. John's Gospel alone, even though the other evan-
gelists and St. Paul and St. Peter had written nothing about
them, though all these, together with the prophets, teach
them and testify mightily to them. These four councils the
bishops of Rome, according to their decree, hold to be like
the four evangelists, as though these matters, together with
all articles of faith, did not stand far more richly in the
Gospels and as though the councils had not taken, them from
242 On the Councils and the Churches
the Gospels ; so finely do those asses of bishops understand
what the Gospels and the councils are ! And if these four
chief councils do not intend to make or establish anything
new in the way of articles of faith, and cannot do so, as
they themselves confess, how much less can such power be
ascribed to the other councils, which must be held of smaller
account, if these four are to be called the chief councils.
This is the way in which we are to understand all other
councils also, whether large or small, even though there
were many thousands of them. They set up nothing new,
either in faith or good works, but rather, as the highest
judges, and greatest bishops under Christ, they defend the
ancient faith and the ancient good works, though, to be sure,
they do deal besides with temporal, transient, changing
things, to meet the need of their own times. This, however,
has to be done, even outside the councils, in the parishes and
schools. But if they do establish anything new in faith or
good works, be assured that the Holy Spirit is not there,
but the unholy spirit with his angels. For they can do this
only without the Holy Scriptures and outside of them, nay,
contrary to the Holy Scriptures, as Christ says, "He that
12:30 is not with me is against me." The Holy Ghost can neither
j ^ know nor do anything more than St. Paul, when he says, in
2:2 I Corinthians ii, "I know nothing save Jesus Christ, the
John crucified," and the Holy Ghost is not given us in order to
14:26 put anything into our minds or teach us anything apart from
Christ, but he is to teach us and call to our remembrance
C 01 * 2:3 all that is in Christ, in whom lie hidden all treasures of wis-
j olm dom and understanding. He is to make Him clear to us, as
16:19 Christ says, and not praise up our reason or opinion, or
make it an idol.
Therefore, such councils apart from the Scriptures are
Acts 4:26 councils of Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod, as the apostles say
^ :2 in Acts iv, Convenerunt in unum adversus
26:4 D o m i n u m , "They take counsel, or hold councils, against
God and His Christ" >" and a11 the evangelists say that the
high-priests and Pharisees took counsel, or assembled coun-
22:2 cils, how they might kill Christ, as David had prophesied in
On the Councils and the Churches 243
Psalm n, saying that they would take counsel against God B* 2:21
and His Anointed and call Christ's preaching "bands" and
"cords," and break them asunder and cast them from them.
This is what most of the pope's councils have been. In them
he sets himself up in Christ's stead as head of the Church,
puts the Holy Scriptures beneath him and rends them
asunder, as his decrees show. Thus at Constance he con-
demned both kinds in the sacrament 1 and before that he tore
marriage asunder, forbade it and condemned it, and actually
crucified and buried the Christ,
And now we come to the main question because of which What a
I am writing this book. What is a council, or
what is its work? If it is not to set up new articles
of faith, then all the world has heretofore been wretchedly
deceived, for it knows nothing else and holds nothing else
except that what a council decides is an article of faith, or
at least a work necessary to salvation, so that he who does not
keep the council's decree can never be saved, because he is
disobedient to the Holy Ghost, the council's Master. Ah,
well ! I think that my conscience is clear, and no council, as
I said above, has power to establish new articles of faith,
because the four chief councils did not do so. Therefore I
shall here speak my opinion and answer the main question
as follows.
First. A council has no power to establish new articles
of faith, despite the fact that the Holy Ghost is in it; for
even the Apostolic Council at Jerusalem (Acts xvi) estab- Acts
lished nothing new in the way of faith, but only St. Peter's 15:11
conclusion, viz., that all their ancestors had believed this
article. 3 A man must be saved without the law, only through
the grace of Christ.
Second. A council has the power, and is bound, to
suppress and condemn new articles of faith according to
Holy Scripture and the ancient faith as the Council of
Nicsea condemned "the new article of Arms, that of Con-
* Sec ote, WBIMAK ED. XXXIX, 9fc a Cf. above, p.
244 On the Councils and the Churches
stantinople the new article of Macedonius, that of Ephesus
ihe new article of Nestorius, that o Chalcedon the new
article of Eutyches.
Third. A council has no power to command new good
works. Nor can it do so, for all good works are already
abundantly commanded in Holy Scripture. What more good
works can one imagine than those which the Holy Ghost
GaL 5:22 ^^ taught in the Scriptures, such as humility, patience, gen-
tleness, mercy, faithfulness, faith, kindness, peace, obedi-
ence, self-control, chastity, giving, serving, etc., in a word,
love ? What good work can one imagine that is not included
in the command of love? If it is outside of love, what kind
Gal 5:14 Q a good work is it? For love, according to St. Paul's teach-
ing, is the fulfillment of all commandments, as Christ Him-
se ^ a-* 80 says in Matthew v.
Fourth. A council has the power, and is bound, to
condemn wicked works that are contrary to love, according
to the Scriptures and the ancient way of the Church, and
to rebuke 1 the individuals who are guilty of them, as the
decree of the Nicene Council rebukes the ambition o other
vices of the bishops and deacons.
In this connection we ought to speak of two kinds of
wicked works. Some of them, such as avarice, murder,
adultery, ambition, and the like, are openly wicked. These
we find condemned by the councils, as they are also con-
demned, without the councils, in Holy Scripture and are
punished by the temporal law. But beside these there are
other new good works, which are not called wicked, but are
beautifully wicked, 3 fine vices, holy idolatries, invented by
the special saints or even the mad saints; in a word, they
are a white devil, a bright Satan. These wicked works (I
should rather say, these new good works!) the councils
ought to condemn to the uttermost and as sharply as possi-
ble, for they are perilous to the Christian faith and are an
offense to the Christian life, and cause both to be deformed
or despised.
So when a weak Christian sees or hears a holy hermit
*Or "punish."
i.e. wicked in spite of a fiae appearance.
On the Councils and the Churches 245
or monk who leads a life of peculiar strictness beyond the
old, ordinary Christian way, he stumbles, and thinks that,
compared with this new saint, the life of all the old Chris-
tians is nothing, or is entirely worldly and perilous. That
is the source of this abomination that has made its way into
all the world: a Christian burgher or peasant who has a
true, pure Christian faith toward Christ and practices the
true, old, good works, such as humility, patience, mildness,
chastity, love, and faithfulness to his neighbor, and diligence
and care in his work, office, calling, and station, such a man
is a real old saint and Christian ; but he must stink and be
nothing at all compared with the new saint who, underneath
his special dress, food, fasting, bed, outward conduct, and
the like new works, is a proud, ambitious, wrathful, impa-
tient, hateful, lustful, presumptuous, false Christian. Such
people St. Paul himself calls proud and self-willed saints,
who choose for themselves a new kind of life and a new way
of serving God (a way that God has not commanded!) over
and above the Christian Church's old, true, common way of
living and serving God, which God has ordained and com-
manded.
The elect may be preserved amid these new and offensive
works, but they will have to take off this new skin and be
saved in the old Christian skin. This is what happened to
St. Anthony 1 when he had to learn that a shoemaker or
tanner in Alexandria was a better Christian than he with his Wwrfe
monkery, and he confessed, also, that he had not progressed
as far as that shoemaker. So it was, too, with the great
saint, John, primus eremita, 2 who prophesied for the
Emperor Theodosius and was highly praised by St. Augus-
tine. When the people, among them St. Jerome, admired the
severity of his life, he gave this answer: "Why do you
look for anything special among us ? Have you not some-
thing better in your parish-churches, where the Scriptures
founder of monasticism in Egypt (d. 356). Luther had the story
from the Vitae patrum, which passed as the work of Jerdme, but is
now generally ascribed to Rufinus. Cf. SCKAEFBR, pp. 159 ff., 425.
3 "The first hermit" He is usually known simply as John the hermit.
Luther found this story also in the Vitae patrum. The praise of
Augustine is found in his tract, De cura pro mortuis gerenda
, 40, 607 f.)
246 On the Councils and the Churches
and the examples of prophets and apostles are preached to
you?" That is taking off the cowl and subjecting oneself
to Holy Scripture and praising only the common Christian
way of life. Paphnutius 1 also had to learn that he was on a
level with a fiddler who had been a murderer, and with two
wives who had lain with their husbands that very night, and
had to say, "One must despise no rank in life." The same
thing happened to St. Bernard, 3 to Bonaventura, and doubt-
less to many other good men ; when they had to feel at last
that their new holiness and monkery could not stand against
sin and death, then they crept to the cross and were saved
in the old Christian faith, without their new holiness, as the
words of St. Bernard testify in many places.
In none of the councils, especially the four chief ones, do
we find these new good works condemned, except that one
or two small councils, especially that of twenty bishops at
Gangra (the proceedings of which have recently been print-
ed) 8 have done something in the matter; but they have rather
allowed this new holiness to get the upper hand until the
Christian Church is scarcely recognizable any longer. They
have acted like lazy gardeners who let the suckers get such
headway that the old, true tree has to suffer, or be ruined.
Even as early as the time of St. Anthony monkery had made
such headway that in the days of the fourth council there
was already an abbey near Constantinople of which Eutyches
was abbot, though the monasteries were not the imperial
castles of stone that they afterwards became. For they call
him archimandrite, and m a n d r e is said to mean a simple
fence or hedge such as is made of bushes and plants and
shoots to keep in cattle or as a pen for sheep; and Eutyches,
as the head of it, lived, with his followers, inside such a
hedge, and led a separated life. From this one can under-
*The same referred to above as a member of the Nicene Council. This
story is another from the Vitae pat rum.
a Cf. Weimar Ed., 47, 85, 585, 598.
8 The little Synod of Gangra, in Paphligonia, held in 343, adopted a series of
canons directed against overemphasis of the ascetic life. In 1530 John
Kymaeus, pastor at Homberg, used these canons in an attack upon the Ana-
baptists. The book was published in 1537 with a preface by Luther. (See
Weimar Ed. L, 45 ff.)- The canons to which Luther here refers (espe-
cially Canon IX) are noted in Weimar Ed. L, 609, note c.
On the Councils and the Churches 347
stand what a monastery was when as yet there was no monas-
tery enclosed with walls.
But just as happens in a garden where the suckers grow
far higher than the true, fruit-bearing shoots, so it goes also
in the garden of the Church ; these new saints, who grow out
at the side and yet want to be Christians and live from the
sap of the tree, increase more mightily than the true, old
saints of the Christian faith and life. And now that I have
come to that, I must tell what I have noticed in the histories.
St. Bernard was an abbot for thirty-six years, and in those
years founded one hundred and sixty houses of his order, 1
and everyone knows what kind of monasteries the Cister-
cians have; they may have been smaller, perhaps, at that
time, but now they are regular princedoms. I will say still
more. At that time, i.e., in the reigns of Emperors Henry
III, IV, and V, within a period of twenty years, many
princely monastic orders sprang up, Grandiomontensians, 1
Reformed Regular Canons, 8 Carthusians* and Cistercians. 5
And what has come of it in the four hundred years since
then ? I verily believe that one might say it has rained and
snowed monks, and it would be no wonder if there were no
town or village left where there was not a monastic house
or two, or at least a terminary or stationary.' The histories
blame Emperor Valentinian because he used monks in war. 7
To be sure ! The idle people were getting too many ! We
read also of some of the kings of France that they had to
forbid men, especially serfs, to become monks, for they
sought freedom under the cowl and everybody was running
into the monasteries.
The world wants to be cheated. If you want to catch
many robins or other birds, you must put an owl on the trap
or lime-rod and you will get them. So when the devil wants
1 For the source of this statement see SCHAEPER, op. c it . , 104; Weimar
Ed., L. 610, note b.
"The order of Grammont, founded 1073.
8 The Augustinian Canons, founded after 1059.
* Founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084.
* Founded 1098.
6 Names given to monastic beggars. Cf. Vol. II, p. 135, n.2.
T Luther confuses Valentinian and his colleague Valens. It was Valens who
compelled Egyptian monks to enter the army. He also compelled monks who
had withdrawn from the world to escape civic burdens to return, and assume
them. Cf. Realencyk. 20, 392,
248 On the Councils and the Churches
Matt. to catch Christians, he has to set up a monk's cowl or, as
6:16 Christ calls it, a sour, hypocritical face; then we wonder
more at these owls than at the true sufferings, blood, wounds,
death, and resurrection, endured because of our sin, which
we see and hear in Christ our Lord. Thus we fall, in a
crowd and with all our might, away from the Christian faith
and upon the new holiness, that is, we fall into the snares
and traps of the devil. We must always have something new.
Christ's death and resurrection are old, and so are faith and
love; they are common and therefore can have no more
u Tim. value, but we must have new things to tickle our ears, as
4:3 St. Paul says. It serves us right, since our ears itch so that
we can no longer endure the old, real truth, ut acervi-
m u s, 1 that we load upon ourselves great heaps of new doc-
trines, as has happened and will continue to happen. The later
councils, especially the papal councils (for they were after-
wards almost all papal) not only left these new good works
uncondemned, but exalted them high above the old good
works throughout the world, so that the pope canonized, or
exalted, many saints from the monastic orders.
At first it had, indeed, a fine appearance, but at last there
came out of it a horrible abomination, as everyone added to
it from day to day. St. Francis' 3 beginning looked fine, but
the thing has now become so raw that they even put cowls
on the dead, so that the dead may be saved in them. Is that
not a terrible thing? That is the way it is when one begins
to fall away from Christ; when one has started to fall, he
cannot stop. What happened in our own time in the Neth-
erlands? Madame Margaret* commanded that after her
death she should be made a nun. It was done. They dressed
her in a nun's garb, sat her at a table, offered her food and
drink, and treated her as a princess is treated at table. Thus
she did penance for her sin and became a holy nun. But
when this had lasted some days, the pious Emperor Charles
heard of it and had it stopped. If he had not done so, I
believe that this example would have flooded the whole
1 "That we heap up"; a reference to II Tim. 4:3.
* Francis of Assdssi, the founder of the Franciscan order, died 1226.
Margaret of Austria, aunt of Charles V and regent of the Netherlands,
On the Councils and the Churches 249
world. This is what the new holiness does and must do
because it wants to improve on the true, old Christian holi-
ness, which does not play the fool in this manner, but abides
and constantly practices faith, love, humility, self-control,
patience, etc., so that we see in it nothing abominable, but
only lovely, gracious, quiet, sober, useful examples, pleasing
to God and man. But the new holiness makes a great uproar
with peculiar, new kinds of conduct so as to entice light
souls to itself; it makes great pretensions, but there is n p
nothing back of them, as St. Peter says. 2 -.us.
Again, Gerson 1 says of the Carthusians that they do right
when they hold so stiffly to their rule as to eat no meat, even
though they have to die for lack of it. Now in a case of
this kind, if a godly physician observes that the sick man
would be helped by a chicken-stew or a bit of meat, and not
otherwise, they do not follow the physician, but the sick man
must sooner die. Here I rather praise St. Augustine, who
puts it into his rule that the physician's advice is to be asked,
and says, 'They are not all of equal ability, and therefore are
not all to be held alike." 3 That is right fine e p i e i k e i a 3
and it does not compel them to remain monks forever, for
the monastery was no prison, but a voluntary association of
some priests/ Dr. Staupitz once told me that he had heard
the bishop of Worms, who was a Dahlberg, 6 say that if St.
Augustine had written nothing but his rule, we should have
to say that he was an able and wise man. That is true. For
he would have utterly condemned these Carthusians as
murderers and their monasteries as veritable places of death,
as in truth they are. At Erfurt I myself saw in the Car-
thusian monastery a sick man walking with a crutch. He
was still a young man. When I asked him whether they did
not relieve him of duty in the choir and the watch, he said
sadly, "I must go on."*
It has served us right, however, God sent us His Son to be
1 Join Gerson, professor at Paris and cardinal (d. 1429). He wrote a tract
on tfcis special subject (De non esu c ami urn).
Mine, 32, 1383.
"Madness," or "moderation." Cf. II Cor. 10: 1.
* Augustine organized his clergy into a wmaffric community.
Johann von Bahlberg, bishop of Worms 1482-1503.
"Ich nius fort. Here used in the sense of "I must die.*'
250 On the Councils and the Churches
teacher and saviour; not satisfied with that, He himself
preaches from His high throne in heaven and says, H u n c
Matt. audite, "Hear ye Him/' With the apostles, we ought
17:5 to fall down and think that we heard nothing else in all the
world; but we allow the Father and the Son to preach in
vain and go on and invent our own preaching. Therefore
P *if! 2 ft " oes as Psalm Ixxxi says, "My people hearken not to my
voice: so I let them go after the imagination of their
heart." Thence come such fine ethelothreskeiai
and apheidiai (Colossians ii) , "Self -chosen spirituality
and mercilessness to our own bodies/' 1 so that we destroy
our own lives, though God has commanded that we are to
care for the body, and not to kill it. Do you not think that
& m - if according to St. Augustine's rule and St. Paul's doctrine
13:14 they had let the physicians advise them about the bodies of
the religious, especially women, it would have helped many
a fine person, who must otherwise have gone mad or died,
as experience taught us? But this has been the time of
wrath, in which this new and mad holiness has had to reign,
as a punishment on the world.
Fifth. A council has no power to impose upon Chris-
tians new ceremonies, such as feast-days, festivals, food,
drink, garb, that are to be observed on pain of mortal sin
or at peril of conscience. If they do this, there stands St-
Augustine to Januarius, and says, Hoc genus liberas
habet observationes, 2 and Christ appointed few
ceremonies. Since a council has no power to impose them,
we have power to omit them ; nay, St. Paul forbids us to
CoL 2:16 keep them, in Colossians ii saying, "Let not your conscience
be troubled over a part of days and fasts, food or drink,
etc." 3
Sixth. A council has the power, and is bound, to con-
demn such ceremonies according to the Scriptures, for they
are unchristian and set up a new idolatry, or service of God
that God has not commanded, but forbidden.
Seventh. A council has no power to interfere in
1 "Self-imposed devotions and rigorous discipline," Moffatt.
"Observance of things of this kind is free."
B Luther's rendering of this text follows the Vulgute,
On the Councils and the Churches 251
worldly law and government, for St. Paul says, "He who n i
will serve God in spiritual strife must cast off worldly 2v
affairs."
Eighth. A council has the power, and is bound, to
condemn attempts of this kind and new laws, according to
the Scriptures, that is, to cast the pope's decretals into the
fire.
Ninth. A council has no power to make statutes or
decrees that seek nothing else than tyranny, that is, statutes
which give the bishops authority and power to command
what they will and make everybody tremble and obey. On
the contrary, it has the power, and is bound, to condemn such
things according to Holy Scripture, I Peter v, "Ye shall I p< (
not lord it over the people" ; and Christ says V o s n o n L "
sic, 1 "He that would be highest, let him be your servant." 22
Tenth. A council has power to appoint some cere-
monies, provided, first, that they do not strengthen the
bishops' tyranny! second, that they are needful and profit-
able to the people and provide a fine and orderly discipline
and way of life. Thus it is needful to have some days and
also some places for people to assemble; likewise definite
hours for preaching, distributing the sacraments, and for
praying, singing, and praising and thanking God. So St.
Paul says, in I Corinthians xiv, "Let all things be done in j G
order and decently." With such measures the bishops' 14
tyranny is not sought, but the need, the profit, and the
order of the people. In short, we must have such things,
and cannot do without them, if the Church is to abide.
Yet if anyone from necessity, illness, hindrance, or what-
ever it may be, can sometimes not keep these rules, it is not
a sin. It is all for his benefit, not for that of the bishop and
if he is a Christian, he will not seek his own harm. What
difference does it make to God if a man does not will to be
in such an assembly? Every man will find that out for him-
self. In a word, if a man is a Christian he is not bound by
such ordinances ; he will keep them rather than break them,
if he can be unhindered. Therefore, no law can be made
* "Ye shall not be so."
252 On the Councils and the Churches
for him about such matters; he would be glad to do more
than such a law would demand. But if a man haughtily and
proudly and wantonly despises them, let him go ; for such a
man will despise higher laws, God's laws or man's.
What is Perhaps you might say here, "What will you finally make
^ tht councils if you clip their powers so close? In this
way a pastor, or even a school-teacher (to say nothing of
parents!) would have more power over the Church than a
council." I reply: Do you think, then, that the offices of
pastor and school-teacher are so small that they might not
be compared with the councils ? If there were no pastors or
bishops, where would a council be gathered from? If there
were no schools, where would we get pastors? I speak of
school-teachers who not only teach children and young people
the arts, but train them in Christian doctrine and faithfully
impress it upon them, and of such pastors as teach God's
Word faithfully and purely. I can easily show that the
poor, insignificant pastor at Hippo, St. Augustine taught
more than all the councils (to say nothing of the most holy
popes at Rome, whom I fear to mention!) I will go even
farther and say that more is given us in the Children's
Creed 1 than in all the councils, and the Lord's Prayer and
the Ten Commandments teach more than all the councils
teach; and not only do they teach, but they guard against
the preaching of anything new that is contrary to the old
doctrine. God help me, how the papists will tear these
words out of their connection, shout them to bits, torture
them to death, and prove that they are self -contradictory,
but meanwhile they will let the reasons for my saying them
remain; for they are pious and honorable people, who can
do nothing but calumniate and lie, and I really ought to be
afraid of them; but then God would not forgive me. I can-
not do it and must let them go on slandering and lying.
But now let you and me talk about this thing. What can
a council do, or what is its value? Listen to their own
words. Anathematizamus, that is their office; "We
condemn!" Indeed, they speak far more humbly and say,
*The Apostles' Creed.
On the Councils and the Churches 253
not, "We condemn," but Anathematizatecclesia,
"The holy Christian Church condemns." The council's con-
demnation would not frighten me, but the holy Church's
condemnation would slay me in an instant because of the
Man who says, "I am with you alway, even to the end of Matt x
the world." This Man's condemnation is not to be endured !
But the councils, in citing the holy Christian Church as the
true supreme Judge on earth, confess that they are not arbi-
trary judges, but that the judge is the Church, which
preaches, believes, and confesses the Holy Scriptures, as we
shall hear. A thief or murderer could enslave the judge,
if he were only an individual man, but the law and the land
are united in the judge and he is their servant; of these the
criminal must be afraid.
A council, then, is nothing else than a consistory or court 1 The
in which the judges, after hearing the parties, give their ver- Coimdl
diet, but with proper humility, saying, "According to the law
our office isanathematizare, 'to condemn* ; not, how-
ever, according to our own idea or will, or to newly invented
law, but according to the old law, which is recognized as law
throughout the empire." Thus a council condemns even a
heretic, not according to its own opinion, but according to the
imperial law, i.e., according to the Holy Scriptures, which
they confess to be the law of the holy Church. This law,
empire, and judge is verily to be feared on peril of eternal
damnation, for the law is God's Word, the empire is God's
Church, and the judge is the officer, or servant, of both.
The servant, or judge, of this empire is not, however, the
council alone, but every pastor and school-master. More-
over a council cannot exercise its judicial office everlastingly
and without interruption, for the bishops cannot always re-
main gathered together, but can only come together in cer-
tain times of need and anathematize, or be judges. So, if an
Arius in Alexandria grows too strong far his pastor or
bishop attaches the people to him, and draws in other pastors
and people, even from the country, so that the pastor at
1 Co n s i st o r i u m , Hof e g e r J c h t , Ca rn erge r i ch t oder
desgleicben. The terms are borrowed from the Roman Law, and were
names for courts existing in Germany in Luther's time.
254 On the Councils and the Churches
Alexandria gets the worst of it and in his judicial office can
no longer defend the law of the empire, that is, the true
Christian faith ; in such a need and at such a time, the other
pastors and bishops ought to run with all their might to the
help of the pastor of Alexandria against Arius, defend the
true Christian faith, and condemn Arius in order to save
others, so that such a miserable state of affairs may not get
the upper hand entirely. If the pastors were unable to
come, the good Emperor Constantine ought to contribute his
power, and help the bishops together. It is just as when a
fire breaks out; if the man who lives in the house cannot
subdue it, all the neighbors ought to run together and help
put it out ; and if they do not run together, the government
must help, and command that they must run together, and
anathematize or condemn the fire, so that the other houses
may be saved. 1
The council, therefore, is the great servant, or judge, for
cite and this empire and its law; but when the time of need is past,
tfws it has completed its duty. So, in temporal government, the
Diets high, great judges have to take hold, when the lower, smaller
Courts would be too weak to resist the evil, until the matter
comes, at last, to the highest, greatest court, the diet, which
cannot be perpetual, but breaks up again, when the necessity
has been met, and commits the case to the lower courts
again. At the diets, however, it happens now and then that
new laws and more laws must be made and old ones must be
altered and amended or even abolished, and one cannot speak
perpetually of a perpetual law; for this is a temporal gov-
ernment, which rules over temporal things that alter and
change, and therefore the laws that are made for these tem-
poral things must also change. If the thing for which the
law is made is no longer there, then the law is nothing. Thus
the city of Rome no longer has the ranks and the organiza-
tion that it once had, and therefore the laws that were made
for these things are dead and no longer in force. Transient
things have transient laws.
But in the empire of the Church the rule is, "God's Word
*C. Vol. II, p. 78.
On the Councils and the Churches 255
Isa. 40:8
abideth forever/* Men must judge according to it and not Th*
make new or other words of God, or establish new or other c . oun "
articles of faith.^ Therefore pastors and school-masters are^ sand
the lowly, but daily, permanent, perpetual judges who inces- school*
santly anathematize, that is, guard against the devil and his
raging. A council, since it is a great judge, must make old
and great rascals good, or kill them, but it cannot produce
any others; a pastor and a school-master have to do with
small, young rascals, and are constantly producing new peo-
ple to be bishops and, if necessary, to form councils. A coun-
cil chops the great limbs off the trees or roots the evil trees
out altogether; but a pastor and a school-master produce
young trees and saplings in the garden. They have a pre-
cious office and work and are the Church's finest jewels; they
preserve the Church. Therefore, all lords should do their
part to see that pastors and schools are preserved ; for if we
cannot have councils, the parishes and schools, small though
they are, are perpetual and useful councils.
One sees how highly the ancient emperors prized the par-
ishes and schools by the richness of the endowments which
they gave them. That these were originally schools is shown
by the names, provost, dean, scolasticus, cantor,
canons, vicars, custodians, etc, 1 But what has come out o
them? Lord God ! Would that they still were willing to do
something, remain what they were, keep what they had, were
princes and lords, but introduced hours of study again and
compelled the canons, vicars, and choir-pupils to listen to
lectures on Holy Scripture, so that they might again have
something of the form of schools in order that we could
have pastors and bishops, and they might be helping to rule
the Church ! O Lord God ! What immeasurable good they
could do the Church ! And God would permit them to have
their wealth and power, if they were to amend their shame-
ful life! But our sighs and complaints are vain. They
neither hear nor see; they let the parishes be laid waste
and the people, without God's Word, become rough and
wild. I have heard from people whom I must believe that
*Cf. Smalcald Articles, Pt. II, Art. III. JACOBS, Book of
Concord, 17 1
Vol. V 17
256 On the Councils and the Churches
in many dioceses there are two, three, and four hundred
good parishes vacant. 1 Is not that a terrible, horrible thing
among Christians? May God in heaven have mercy on us
and hear our wretched sighings and laments ! Amen.
To finish, at last, this matter of the councils, I hold that
everyone can get from what has been said, an understanding
of what a council is, and what its rights, powers, office, and
work are, also of what councils are true and what are false
councils. Their duty is to confess and defend the old faith
against new articles of faith; also not to set up new good
works against the old good works, but to defend the old good
works against the new good works. To be sure, he who
defends the old faith against the new faith, also defends
the old good works against the new good works. For as is the
faith, so are its fruits, viz., good works, though the two
councils 2 did not see this consequence ; otherwise they would
have condemned Eutyches not only because of the faith,
which they did, but also because of his monkery, which they
did not. On the contrary, they rather confirmed the latter
and thus proved that they were poor logicians, stating a pre-
mise and not drawing the conclusion, and this becoming a
plague to the whole world, for they had the same fault with
regard to good works that Nestorius and Eutyches had with
regard to faith. That is to say, God wills not only to
make us children in faith, but in logic, too, He will hold us
fools and count us as Eutyches and Nestorius, so that he
may humble us. The theology of Nestorius and Eutyches
was indeed condemned, but their bad logic always remains in
the world, as at the beginning, affirming the premise and not
admitting the conclusion. Why say much about it? Though
you have all the councils, that does not yet make you a
Christian ; they give you too little. And though you have all
the fathers, they, too, do not give you less than enough. You
must go to the Holy Scriptures, where everything is abun-
dantly given, or to lie catechism, 8 where it is given in brief ;
1 C. Luther's Preface to the Smalcald Articles (JACOBS, op. c i t . ,
30y)
a Ephesus and Chalcedon.
*The Decalogue, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, not the commentary on
them, which we know by that name.
On the Councils and the Churches 257
and there you will find far more than in all the councils and
Fathers.
Finally. A council should have to do only with mat- coun-
ters of faith, and that only when the faith is in special need, c^^
Openly evil works can be condemned, and good works admin- Paittl
istered at home by temporal government, pastors, and par-
ents. But false good works belong to matters of faith, be-
cause they corrupt the true faith. Therefore they, too,
belong in the council if the pastors are too weak, though the
councils, as I have said, did not trouble themselves about
them, except one or two of the little councils, like that at
Gangra, mentioned above. 1 Ceremonies ought to be left out
of the councils entirely, back in the parishes, where they are
at home, nay, in the schools, and the school-masters ought to
be the masters of ceremonies, along with the pastors, for all
the rest of the people learn the ceremonies from those who
go to school, without rules and bother.
For example, what, when, and how the school-boys sing
or pray in church, the people learn afterwards, and what they
sing by the bier or at the grave, the others also learn. If they
kneel down and fold their hands when the school-master:
raps with his stick at the singing of the Et homo factus
e s t , 2 the crowd does it after them, and if they doff their
hats and bow their knees whenever the name of Jesus Christ
is mentioned, and perform other Christian acts, the crowd
does these things after them, without any preaching, moved
by living examples. But under the pope all the ceremonies
have been taken out of the schools and parishes except
where the pope has sought his own tyranny, with foods,
fasts, feasts, etc. Yet here, too, we must use moderation,
in order that, in the end, the ceremonies may not become too
many. Above all, however, we must see to it that they are
not considered necessary to salvation, but only as serving
outward discipline and order. They can be changed at any
time and cannot be commanded as perpetual laws in the
Church, as that ass of a pope does, and set forth in the books
*See above, p. 246.
a "And was made man," from the Nicene Creed.
258 On the Councils and the Churches
with tyrannical threats ; for they are entirely external, hodily,
transitory, changeable things.
According to this, we would have, in our time, matters
that would be more than important enough for the calling of
Council a c otmc tt- F r we poor, wretched Christians, weak in faith
and real M i s e r g i ; that is, "work-haters," those of us
who are left would have to accuse the pope and his fol-
lowers on the ground of the article of StPeter, of which you
Acts have heard before, 1 viz., that it is tempting God when one
15:10 lays upon believers intolerable burdens, which neither we
nor our forefathers have been able to bear, and which
the pope and his followers, especially, will not touch with
L n e ;46 one finger. St. Peter, indeed, speaks of the law of Moses,
which God Himself commanded, but the pope has oppressed
us with his foul, dirty, stinking burdens, so that the holy
Church has become his privy chamber, and what issues from
him has had to be worshiped as God. Moreover he has set
fire to and burned up, not one or two churches, as did Arius
and his like, but the whole Christian Church, and has utterly
wiped out, so far as he could, St. Peter's old, true article of
faith ; for that we must be saved only by the grace of Christ,
as St. Peter testifies and as all Christendom from the begin-
ning of the world has been saved, all patriarchs, prophets,
kings, saints, etc.: this he calls heresy, and he has con-
demned this article steadily, from the beginning, and cannot
stop.
We call and cry for a council and beg the whole Church
for counsel and help against this arch-burner of churches
and slayer of Christians, so that we may get back again this
article of St. Peter. But we demand, also, that no Nestorian
or Eutychian logic be used, which admits or confesses one
point, but denies the consequence, or other point- We de-
mand the whole article, full and pure, as it was declared by
St. Peter and taught by St. Paul. We demand, in a word,
that everything be condemned whose condemnation is implied
in this article 2 ; or, as St. Peter calls it, "the intolerable in>
possible burden," and St. Augustine, "the countless burdens
*Cf. above, pp. 188 S.
*Dass man alleis verdamme was da folget ana dieaem
Artickel verdammt sein.
On the Councils and the Churches 253
which the bishops have laid upon the Church.** 1 What good
does it do to admit the first point, viz., that we must be jus-
tified and saved only through the grace of Christ, and not
allow the second point to follow from it? St. Paul says, Rom
"If it is grace, then it is not works; if works, then it is not 11:6
grace" ; and St. Peter, "If it is grace, then it is not the intol-
erable burden; if it is the intolerable burden, then it is not
grace, and it is tempting God." St. Augustine, too, says that
since Christ would not burden the Church with many cere-
monies, nay, would rather that it be free; therefore, it was
not His will to have it oppressed by the countless burdens
of the bishops, by means of which the Church has become
worse than the Jews, who were burdened with God's laws
but not, like the Church, with human, presumptuous, arbi-
trary ordinances.
We would have this logic of St. Peter, St. Paul, St.
Augustine, which is the logic of the Holy Ghost. It admits
the whole argument and does not break it up in Nestorian
fashion, allowing the one point to be true and not allowing
the other to be true, though the second follows from the
first. Otherwise it would be like what is written of some of
the kings of Israel and Judah, who established again the
true worship of God but did not abolish the "high-places"
and other altars and other worship. The prophet Elijah calls
this "limping between the two sides," and we Germans call
it "wanting two brothers-in-law with one sister." They
wanted to give one people two kinds of gods, or, if they
reformed things, to let another, strange god stay alongside
the only God. They were stupid, Nestorian logicians, con-
fessing that only one God must be worshiped and yet not
seeing that it must follow (or not letting it follow) that all
other gods must be put away or they could not have the one
God. Therefore, in the council which we demand we shall
not tolerate any Nestorius, who gives us one thing and takes
from us the other, without which we cannot keep what he
gives us and is a regular give-and-taker. a For if it is granted
*In the often quoted letter to Januarius, Migne, xxxiii, 201.
3 Luther's Geber-nehmer would, perhaps, be best rendered by the
colloquial Americanism, "injun-giver."
260 On the Councils and the Churches
us that the grace of Christ alone saves us, and if the conse-
quence of that is not granted us, viz., that works do not
save us, but it is maintained that works are necessary for
satisfaction or for righteousness, that is the same thing as
taking from us the first thing, which was granted us, namely
that grace alone saves us, without works. Thus we keep
nothing, and the evil has become only worse.
I will say it in plain German! The pope, in a council,
should not only utterly abolish all his tyranny of human
commandments, but also hold with us that even the good
works done according to God's commandments cannot help
men to righteousness, to the blotting out of sin, to the attain-
ment of God's grace, but that this can be done only by faith
in Christ, who is a king of righteousness in us, by His pre-
cious blood, death, and resurrection, whereby He has blotted
out sin for us, made satisfaction, reconciled God, and re-
deemed us from death, wrath, and hell. Therefore he should
condemn and burn all his bulls, decretals, books about in-
dulgence, purgatory, monasticism, saint-worship, and pil-
grimages, together with all the countless lies and idolatries,
because they rage directly against this article of St. Peter's.
He should also return all that has bought, stolen, robbed,
plundered, or won, especially his falsely invented primacy,
which he boasts as so necessary to salvation that no one can
be saved who is not subject to him; for the pope's hat did
not die for my sins and its name is not Christ, and all
Christians, before him and under him, have been made holy
and saved without his hat.
This, I think, is a case important enough for the holding
of a stately, sharp, mighty council. Emperor and kings
ought to do their part here, and force the pope into it, if he
is unwilling, as the emperors did in the four chief councils.
But not all the bishops, abbots, monks, doctors, and the
worthless rag-picker's rabble and great tail 1 ought to come
to it. If so, it will be a council that spends the first year
in arriving and in quarreling about who shall have the
highest place, who precede and who follow ; the second year
a i.e., the hangers-on of the papal court.
On the Councils and the Churches 261
in revelling, banqueting, racing, and fencing ; the third year
in other matters, burning a John Hus or two, perhaps ; mean-
while the cost would be mounting until it would be enough
to support a campaign against the Turks. On the contrary,
it would be necessary to summon from all lands the people
who were really learned in the Scriptures and whose minds
and hearts were seriously concerned with God's honor, the
Christian faith, the welfare of souls, and the peace of the
world. Among them there should also be some intelligent
and faithful men of the worldly estate, 1 for the case con-
cerns them, too. If Sir Hans von Schwarzenberg 3 were
living, he could be trusted, and men like him. It would be
sufficient if there were three hundred of them altogether,
picked men, to whom land and people could be trusted. So
the first council 8 had only three hundred and eighteen mem-
bers from all the lands which the Turks and our monarchs
now rule, though seventy of them were false and Arians ; the
second, at Constantinople, had one hundred and fifty; the
third, at Ephesus, two hundred; the fourth, at Chalcedon,
had six hundred and thirty, almost as many as the others
put together, and they were quite unequal to the fathers of
Nicaea and Constantinople.
Moreover, the matters of all countries, which no one can
or will judge, and old, obsolete, bad practices must not be
raked up and all dumped on the neck of the council. There
must be a Constantine there, 4 who will rake up all these
things and throw them into the fire, telling them to let these
matters be judged and decided at home, in their own lands,
but bidding them also get down to business and get away as
quickly as possible. Then the pope's heresy, nay, his abomi-
nations, would be read out, point by point, and all of it
shown to have been invented, contrary to St. Peter's arti-
cle and the ancient, true faith of the Church, which has held
St. Peter's article since the beginning of the world; and
it would be quickly condemned.
*i.e., laymen.
a jahn r Baron von Schwarzenberg (14634528) imperial chamberlain in 1521,
later an official of th! Margrave of Brandenburg- Ansbach. Cf . A 1 1 g e -
meine Peutsche Biographic.
8 The Council of Nicaea,
*C1 above, p. 177.
262 On the Councils and the Churches
NO Hope "Nay," you say, "such a council is never to be hoped for."
^* I think so myself, but if one is going to talk about it, and
Council demand a council or wish for one, then one must wish for
such a council, or else let it all go and wish for none, and
keep quiet. The first council, at Nicsea, was such a council,
and the second, at Constantinople, and these examples ought
to be followed. And I am citing them to show that it would
be the duty of emperor and kings, since they, too, are
Christians, to assemble such a council for the rescue of
many thousand souls whom the pope, with his tyranny and
his avoidance of a council (so far as in him lies!), allows
to go to destruction, and who, by means of a council, could
all be brought back to St. Peter's article and the true, ancient
Christian faith, though they must otherwise be lost. They
cannot get this doctrine of St. Peter's, because they neither
hear nor see anything of it.
Even though other monarchs would do nothing toward
such a great council, the Emperor Charles and the German
princes could hold a provincial council in Germany. 1 Some
think that a schism would grow out of that; but if we did
our part and earnestly sought only God's honor and the
welfare of souls, who knows whether God could not yet turn
the hearts of the other monarchs, so that in time they would
praise and accept the judgment of this council ; for it cannot
happen suddenly. But if Germany were to accept it, it would
have an echo in other lands also, whither it cannot, or can
hardly, reach without a great preacher like a council, and a
strong voice which reaches far.
Ah, well ! If we must despair of a council, let us commend
the case to the true judge, our merciful God. Meanwhile,
we shall further the little councils and young councils, the
parishes and schools, and press St. Peter's article in every
possible way, and maintain it against all the damned new
articles of faith and new good works, with which the pope
has flooded the world. I shall comfort myself when I see
the children wearing bishop's masks, thinking that God
1 Lttflier had made this proposal nineteen years earlier. See, in this
edition, An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility, Vol. II,
61 ff. 77 ff.
On the Councils and the Churches 263
makes, and will make real bishops of these play-bishops and,
on the other hand, will hold those who, according to their
name, ought be real bishops as play-bishops and mockers at
His majesty; as Moses says, "I will make them wroth with Beut.
that which is not my people and move them to bitterness 32;21
with a foolish people, because they have made me wroth with
that which is not God." It will not be the first time that
He has cast off bishops; He threatened it in Hosea, "Be-
cause thou rejectest the doctrine, I will also reject thee, that
thou shalt not be my priest." Et f actum est ita, et
i t a f i t - 1
Let that suffice about the councils. We shall now speak,
at the end, about the Church.
1 "And so it came to pass and so comes to pass.*'
PART III
As they cry out "Fathers and Councils !" and do not know
what fathers and councils are, but would only deafen us
with the words, so they cry also about the Church; but as
for saying what, who, or where the Church is, they do not
render either the Church or God the service of asking the
question or thinking about it. They would like to have men
take them, pope, cardinals, bishops, for the Church and
allow them, under this glorious name, to be nothing but
pupils of the devil, who can practice nothing but knavery and
rascality.
Well then, setting aside many writings and many divisions
"* * t ^ ie word church, we will this time stay by the Children's
church Creed, which says, "I believe one holy Christian Church, the
** Communion of Saints." There the Creed indicates clearly
what the Church is, namely, "a communion of saints," that
is, a group or assembly of such people as are Christians and
holy. That is a Christian, holy group, 1 or Church. But
this word "church" is not German and does not convey the
sense or idea that is to be taken from this article. 3
Actg 19: In Acts xix, the chancellor 8 calls eccles ia the assem-
39, 41 "bly or People who had run together in a crowd on the
market-place, and says, "It can be settled in a regular
assembly"; 4 and again, "When he had thus spoken he dis-
missed the assembly." In this passage and others, e c c 1 e -
sia, or church, means nothing else than an assembled
people, though they were heathen, and not Christians, just
as the town-councilors summon the community to the town-
hall. Now there are many peoples in the world, but the
Christians are a peculiar people, a called people, and they
* Luther's H a u e is here rendered "group/'
*n ^ .,._,. ,. -, c f. o u the Papacy at Rome, in this edition,
n> CAV and RV) '* " The s*etary of state" (Moffatt).
*
Gemeinde.
(264)
Nme
On the Councils and the Churches 265
are therefore called not simply ecclesia, "church," or
"people," but santeta, catJholica, Christiana,
that is, "a Christian, holy people/' which believes in Christ!
Therefore, it is called a Christian people and has the Holy
Ghost, who sanctifies it daily, not only through the forgive-
ness of sins, as the Antinomians 1 foolishly believe, but by
the abolition, purging out, and slaying of sins, and because
of this they are called a holy people. "Holy Christian
Church/' then, is the same thing as "a people that is Chris-
tian and holy," or as we are accustomed to say, "the holy
Christendom/' 3 or "the entire Christendom"; in the Old Tes-
tament it is called "God's people/'
If these words had been used in the Creed : "I believe that The
there is a holy Christian people/' it would have been easy
to avoid all the misery that has come in with this blind, ob-
scure word "church" ; for the term "Christian, holy people"
would have brought along with it, clearly and powerfully,
both understanding and the judgment on the question "What
is and what is not a church?" One who heard the words
"Christian, holy people" would have been able to decide
off-hand, "The pope is not a people, still less a holy Chris-
tian people." So, too, the bishops, priests, and monks are
not a holy Christian people, for they do not believe in Christ,
do not lead holy lives, and are the devil's wicked, shameful
people. He who does not rightly believe in Christ, is not
Christian or a Christian, and he who has not the Holy Ghost
to resist sin, is not holy. Therefore they cannot be a Chris-
tian, holy people, that is, sancta et catholica
ecclesia.
But because we use this blind word "church" in the Creed,
the common man thinks of the stone house, which we call a
church, and so the painters depict it; or if things turn out
better, they paint the apostles, the disciples, and the Mother
of God, as on Pentecost, with the Holy Ghost hovering over
1 See above, p. 233f.
3 Christenheit. InThePapacyatRome Luther tried, as many
times afterwards, and here, to get away from the word K. i r c h e , "church."
The word Christenheit was his favorite substitute 1 , but even that word
has often to be translated "church" in order to render its meaning correctly.
266 On the Councils and the Churches
them. That will pass; but it is only the holy Christian
Church of one time, the beginning. E c c 1 e s i a , however,
ought to mean the holy Christian people, not only of the time
of the apostles, who are long since dead, but clear to the end
of the world, so that there is always living on earth a Chris-
tian, holy people in which Christ lives, works, and reigns
per redemptionem, through grace and forgiveness
of sins, the Holy Ghost per vivificationem et
sanctificationem, through the daily purging out of
sins and renewal of life, so that we do not remain in sin, but
can and should lead a new life in good works of all kinds,
such as the Ten Commandments, or Two Tables of Moses,
require, and not in the old, wicked works : that is St. Paul's
teaching. But the pope and his followers have applied both
the name and the picture of the Church to themselves alone
and to his shameful, accursed crowd, under this blind word
e c c 1 e s i a , "church."
Nevertheless they give themselves the right name when
"they call themselves e c c 1 e s i a (if we interpret it so as to
Not the agree with their way of life) , either Romanaorsancta,
titan*" anc ^ ^ not ac ^ ( as> i n( teed, ^y cannot) c a t h o 1 i c a .
church For e c c 1 e s i a means "a people/' and that they are, as the
Turks are also ecclesia, "a people.'* Ecclesia
R o m a n a means "a Roman people" ; that, too, they are,
and far more Roman than the heathen of ancient times were
Roman. Ecclesia Romana sancta means "a holy
Roman people," that, too, they are, for they have invented
a far greater holiness than the Christian holiness, or than the
holy Christian people have. Their holiness is a Roman
holiness, Romanae eccle<siae, "a holiness of the
Roman people," and they are now called even s a n c t i s -
simi, sacrosancti, "the most holy," as Virgil speaks
of sacra fames, sacra hostia 1 and Plautus of
omnium sacerrimus, 3 for Christian holiness they
-cannot endure. Therefore they cannot have the name "Chris-
tian Church" or " Christian people," if only for the reason
that Christian Church is a name and Christian holiness a
* M Holy hunger (for gold)," "holy sacrifice. 1 * Aeneid III, 57.
* "The. most holy one of all," Mostellaria IV, 2.
On the Councils and the Churches 267
thing that is common to all churches and all Christians in the
world ; therefore, it is called catholicum. But this
common name and common holiness they hold cheap and
almost as nothing. In its stead, they have invented a pecu-
liar, higher, different, better holiness than that of others. It
is to be called sanctitas Romana et ecclesiae
Romanae sanctitas, that is, "Roman holiness 1 and
the holiness of the Roman people."
For Christian holiness, or the holiness of universal Chris-
tendom 1 is that which comes when the Holy Spirit gives
people faith in Christ, according to Acts xv, that is, He
makes heart, soul, body, works and manner of life new and
writes God's commandments, not on tables of stone, but on ActslS:9
hearts of flesh according to II Corinthians iii. To speak
plainly, according to the first Table He gives knowledge of 3:3
God, so that those whom He enlightens can resist all heresies,
in true faith, and overcome all false ideas and errors, and
thus remain pure in faith against the devil. He also gives
strength and comfort to feeble, despondent, weak consciences
against the accusations and attacks of sin, so that souls are
not despondent and do not despair and are not terrified at
torment, pain, death, and God's wrath and judgment, but
strengthened and comforted in hope, are bold and joyful in
overcoming the devil. Thus He also gives true fear and
love of God, so that we do not despise God and murmur or
grow angry at His marvellous judgments, but love, praise,
thank, and honor Him for all that happens. This is a new,
holy life in the soul according to the First Table of Moses.
It is called tres virtutes theologicas, "the three
chief virtues of Christians," faith, hope, and love; and the
Holy Ghost, who gives them and does and works these things l ^** 3
for Christians whom Christ has won, is therefore called
Sanctificator, or Vivificator/ For the old
Adam is dead $nd can do nothing, and must learn from the
law that he can do nothing 'and is dead; he would not know
it of himself.
Christenheit
*Sanotifier, or Lifegiver.
268 On the Councils and the Churches
In the Second Table, and in the body, He also sanctifies
Christians and it is of His gift that they willingly obey par-
ents and overlords, conduct themselves peacefully and hum-
bly, are not wrathful or revengeful or malicious, not lewd,
adulterers, unchaste, but pure and chaste, whether they have
wives and children or not ; and so forth. They do not steal
or take usury, are not avaricious, do not cheat, etc., but work
honorably, support themselves honestly, lend gladly, give and
help whenever they can. Therefore, they do not lie, deceive,
back-bite, but are kind, truthful, faithful, and reliable, and
whatever else God's commandments require. This is done by
the Holy Ghost, who sanctifies and awakens even the body
to this new life, until it is completed in the life beyond.
That is Christian holiness. There must always be such peo-
ple on earth, even though there were but two or three of
them, or they were only children ; of old folk, there are, sad
to say, very few ! Those who are not of this sort ought not
to count themselves Christians, and they ought not to be
comforted, as one comforts Christians, with much talk about
the forgiveness of sins and the grace of Christ, as the Anti-
nomians do.
For they/ rejecting and not understanding the Ten Com-
mandments, preach much about the grace of Christ instead.
They strengthen and comfort those who remain in sins,
^j^ them that they shall not fear sins or be terrified at
them, since through Christ, these are all done away ; and yet
they see people going on, and let them go on, in open sins,
without any renewal or improvement of their lives. From
this one observes that they really do not understand the faith
and Christ aright, and abolish Him even as they preach Him.
For how can a man preach rightly about the works of the
Holy Ghost in the First Table and speak about comfort,
grace, forgiveness of sins, if he neither heeds nor practices
the works of the Holy Ghost in the Second Table, which he
can understand and experience, while he has never attempted
or experienced those of the First Table? Therefore it is
certain that they neither have nor understand either Christ
x ie., The An,tincmuans Cf. above, p. 233 f.
On the Councils and the Churches 269
or the Holy Ghost, and their talk is mere foam on their
tongues, and they are, as has been said, good Nestorians and
Eutychians, who confess or teach Christ in the premise and
deny Him in the conclusion, or idiomata ; that is, they teach
Christ and destroy Him by teaching Him.
That, then, is Christian holiness. The pope will not have
it; he must have a peculiar holiness that is far holier. Men papal
must be taught chasubles, tonsures, cowls, garb, food, f es- Holiness
tivals, days, monkery, nunnery, masses, saint-worship, and
countless other points about external, bodily, transitory
things. That one lives among these things without faith,
fear of God, hope, love, and the other works of the Holy
Ghost according to the First Table, but substitutes for them
misbelief, uncertainty of heart, doubt, despising of God,
impatience toward Him, a false trust in works (which is
idolatry!) 'instead of a trust in the grace of Christ or His
merits, making one's own satisfaction by works, even selling
the surplus 1 to others and taking in exchange the goods and
wealth of all the world as though they had been well earned :
all this is no hindrance and, in spite of it, a man can be holier
than Christian holiness itself.
So in regard to the Second Table. It matters not that
they teach disobedience to parents and superiors, or that
they murder, fight, set people at odds, envy, hate, take
revenge, are unchaste, lie, steal, take usury, deceive, and
practice all kinds of knavery to the limit. Just throw a sur-
plice over your head and you are holy with the Roman
church's holiness, and can be saved without Christian holi-
ness. But we will not concern ourselves about these filthy
people ; what we do for them is done in vain. V e n i t i r a
dei super eos in finem, a asSt. Paul says. We I
shall speak to one another about the Church. 2;16
The Creed teaches us that a people of God must be on -nw
earth and remain until the end of the world. This is an Marka
article of faith, which cannot cease until that comes which
it believes, as Christ promises, "I am with you even unto
*The "treasury of merit" on which indulgences were based. Cf. Vol. L
p. 20, n. 2.
"The wrath of God cometh upon them at the last."
270 On the Councils and the Churches
Matt. the end of the world." But how can a poor, erring man
28:20 know where this Christian, holy people in the world is?
It ought to be in this life and on earth; for it believes that
a heavenly nature and an eternal life are to come, but as yet
at has them not; therefore it must be in this life and this
world, and remain in them until the world's end. For it
says, "I believe in another life," thereby confessing that it is
not yet in that life, but believes in it, hopes for it, and loves
it as its own true fatherland and life, though it must remain
and endure, meanwhile, in exile, as we sing in the hymn to
the Holy Ghost, "When we turn home again from this
exile." 1 Of this we shall now speak.
i.The First, This Christian, holy people is to be known by this,
w<Mrd that it has God's Word, though in quite unequal measure,
i COT. as St. Paul says. Some have it altogether pure, others not
3:i2ff. entirely pure. Those who have it pure are called those who
build on the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones; those
who have it impure are they who build hay, straw, wood on
the foundation, yet will be saved through fire. Of these
more than enough has been said above. This is the main
point. It is the high, chief, holy possession 3 from which the
Christian people take the name "holy," for God's Word is
holy and sanctifies everything it touches ; nay, it is the very
7a<; holiness of God. Romans i says, "It is God's power, which
saves all who believe thereon," and II Timothy iv, "It is all
4.$' made holy by the Word of God and prayer"; for the Holy
Ghost Himself administers it, and anoints and sanctifies the
Church, that is, the Christian, holy people, with it 3 and not
with the pope's chrism/ with which he anoints, or sanctifies
fingers, garb, cloaks, cups, and stones. These things never
teach us to love, believe, and praise God, and be godly. They
only adorn the bag of worms, 6 but afterwards they fall apart
1 The fourth line of the pre-ref ormation Pentecost-hymn, N u biten wir
den hell gen g e i s t .
3 Heiligthum. In the following discussion this word recurs continually.
Each of the marks of the Church is called a H eiligthum, or Heilthum.
The term ' holy ^ possession" has been chosen as the translation which best
conveys its meaning. It was also the word for "relics," the wonder-working
objects of reverence that were preserved in the churches, and on this idea
Mather plays constantly.
s ie., with the Word of God. 4 The holy oil
5 Ma 4 e a sack, ie., the body, which goes to decay.
On the Councils and the Churches 271
and decay, with the chrism and whatever holiness is in it, and
with the bag of worms itself. But this relic is the true
relic, the true unction, which anoints to everlasting life, even,
though you can have no papal tiara or bishop's mitre, but
have to live and die bare and naked of body, as children,
(and all of us), are baptized naked and without adornment.
We speak, however, of the external Word orally preached
by men like you and me. For Christ left this behind Him as
an outward sign whereby His Church, His Christian, holy
people in the world, was to be recognized. We speak, too,
of this oral Word as it is earnestly believed and publicly
confessed before the world, as He says, "He that conf esseth
me before men, him will I confess before my Father and Matt -
His angels"; for there are many who know it secretly, but
will not confess it. Many have it and do not believe in it
or act by it, for those who believe in it and act by it are few, M "**
as the parable of the seed, in Matthew xiii, tells us: three 13:4
parts of the field get it and have it, but only the fourth part,
the fine, good field, "bringeth forth fruit with patience/'
Wherever, therefore, you hear or see this Word preached,
believed, confessed, and acted on, there do not doubt that 3.9
there must be a true ecclesia sancta catholica,
a Christian, holy people, even though it be small in numbers ;
for God's Word does not go away empty (Isaiah Iv), but 55:11
must have at least a fourth part, or a piece of the field. If
there were no other mark than this one alone, it would still
be enough to show that there must be a Christian church
there; for God's Word cannot be present without God's
people, and God's people cannot be without God's Word.
Who would preach or listen to preaching, if no people of
God were there? And what could or would God's people
believe, if God's Word were not there?
This is the thing that does all miracles, sets everything to
rights, upholds everything, accomplishes everything, does
everything, drives out all devils, pilgrimage-devils, indul-
gence-devils, bull-devils, brotherhood devils, saints' devils,
mass-devils, purgatory-devils, monastery-devils, priest-dev-
ils, devils of turbulence, devils of sedition, heretic devils,
pope devils, even antinomian devils ; but this does not hap-
Vol V -18
272 On the Councils and the Churches
pen without outcries and disturbance, as is seen in the poor
Mark i- men ^ ^ ar ^ * an( ^ * x - No, the devil must leave a cry and
23, 26; an u P r ar behind him, when he goes out, as is evident in
9:2<> ' Emser/ Eck, Cochlaeus, 2 Schmid/ Wetzel/ T 6 1 p e 1 , K n e -
b e 1 , Filttz, R ii 1 1 z , B sow, ass and the rest of his cryers
and writers. They are all mouths and members of the
devil, through which he makes his outcries and uproars ; but
It does them no good ; they must go out and cannot endure
the power of the Word. They themselves admit that it is
God's Word and Holy Scripture, but say that we can get it
better from the fathers and councils. Let them go! It is
enough for us to know that this chief thing, this chief relic
produces, upholds, nourishes, strengthens, and guards the
Church, as St. Augustine also says, Ecclesia Verbo
dei generatur, alitur, nutritur, robora-
t u r ; c but whoever they are that persecute it and condemn
it, they give themselves a name by their own fruits.
Second. God's people, or the Christian holy people, is
2. Bap- known by the holy Sacrament of Baptism, when it is rightly
t* 81 * taught and believed and used according to Christ's ordi-
nance. That, too, is a public sign and precious, holy posses-
sion 7 whereby God's people is made holy, for it is a holy
bath of regeneration through the Holy Ghost, in which we
Tit 3:5 bathe and are washed by the Holy Ghost from sin and death,
as in the innocent, holy blood of the Lamb of God. Where
you see this mark, know that the holy Christian people must
be there, even though the pope does not baptize you or even
If you know nothing about his holiness and power. The little
children know nothing about that, though when they grow
up they are, sad to say! led astray from their baptism, as
ii Pet. St " . P . eter complains, in II Peter ii, "They entice through
2 : i8 lasciviousness those who had escaped and who now walk in
* Emser, Eck, see Vol. Ill, 212, 219, 277 ff, etc.
*Rotzloffel, Luther's favorite name for Cochlaeus.
8 Jolian Faber, bishop of Vienna, (d. 1541).
* George Wet2el, for a time a Lutheran pastor at Nimegk, later an advo-
cate of Catholic reform,
B Names suggested, probably, by the sound of "Wetzel." They make little
^^In 1 ? E " llsh > but were us ed as terms of the utmost contempt.
of God " 1S be ltten > ra^ f or, nourished, strengthened by the Word
7 He i It um, see above, p. 270, note 2.
On the Councils and the Churches 273
error." 1 No, do not be confused by the question of who does
the baptizing; for baptism does not belong to the baptizer
and is not given to him, but it belongs to him who is bap-
tized, for whom it was established by God and to whom it is
given; just as the Word of God does not belong to the
preacher (except in so far as he hears and believes it) but
to him who hears and believes, and to him it is given.
Third. God's people, or a Christian, holy Church is
known by the holy Sacrament of the Altar, when it is
rightly administered according to Christ's institution and is ^^
believed and received. That, too, is a public mark and pre- Supper
cious, holy possession, 3 bequeathed by Christ, whereby Hia
people is made holy. By means of this sacrament it exer-
cises itself in faith, and openly confesses that it is a Chris-
tian people, as it does also by means of the Word of God
and baptism. Here again you need not ask whether the pope
says mass for you or not, consecrates you, confirms or
anoints you, or puts a chasuble on you. 3 You can receive the
mass with no clothing at all, as one may who is sick in bed,
except that outward decency compels the wearing of decent
and honorable clothing. Nor do you need to ask whether
you have a tonsure or have been anointed;* nor need you
argue about whether you are man or woman, young or old,
any more than you would ask about all these things in con-
nection with baptism or preaching. It is enough that you
are consecrated and anointed with the high and holy oil of
God, of the Word of God, of baptism, and of this sacra-
ment; then you are anointed highly and gloriously enough
and dressed in a sufficient priestly garb. Do not be led astray
by the question whether the man who gives you the sacra-
ment is holy, or whether he has two wives or not* For the
sacrament does not belong to him who administers it, but to
him to whom it is administered, unless he also takes it. In
that case he is one of those who receive it, and it is given to
him also.
1 Luther follows the Vulgate,
a H e i 1 1 u m , see above, p. 270, note 2.
8 Messgewand, the vestment worn by^the^ priest at mass.
4 A reference to the holy oiL t^ed in ordination,
See below, p. 278.
274 On the Councils and the Churches
Where you see this sacrament administered with a right
usage, be sure that God's people is there. It was said above
about the Word, where God's Word is, there must the
Church be ; so, also, where Baptism and the Sacrament 1 are,
there must God's people be, and vice versa. For these holy
things no one has, gives, practices, uses, or confesses, except
God's people only, even though some false and unbelieving
Christians are secretly among them. These people do not
deprive the people of God of its holiness, especially so long
as they are present secretly, for open sinners the Church, or
people of God, does not tolerate in its midst, but punishes 3
them and makes them holy ; or, if they will not suffer that,
it casts them out of the holy place by means of the ban and
holds them as heathen (Matthew xviii).
Fourth. The people of God, or holy Christians, are
known by the keys, 3 which they publicly use. Christ decrees,
in Matthew xviii that if a Christian sins, he shall be rebuked,
1 R i mF
and if he does not amend his ways, he shall be bound and
cast out; but if he amends, he shall be set free. This is
the power of the keys. Now the use of the keys is two-fold,
public, and private.* There are some whose consciences
are so weak and timid, that even if they have received no
public condemnation, they cannot be comforted unless they
get a special absolution from the pastor. On the other hand,
there are some who are so hard they will not have their
sins individually forgiven and remitted even in their hearts
and by the pastor. Therefore the use of the keys must be
of both kinds, public and private. Now wherever you see
the sins of some persons forgiven or rebuked, publicly or
privately, know that God's people is there ; for if God's peo-
ple is not there, the keys are not there; and if the keys are
not there, God's people is not there. Christ has bequeathed
them as a public mark and holy possession, 8 whereby the
Holy Ghost, won through Christ's death, imparts holiness
anew to fallen sinners and by them Christians confess that
they are a holy people, under Christ, in this world ; and those
1 i.e., The Sacrament of the 1 Altar. * Or "rebukes."
8 The "power of the keys*' is the power to forgive ains. See below.
* Or "general" and "particular." "Heiltum; see above, p, 270. note 2.
On the Councils and the Churches 275
who will not be converted and made holy again are to be
cast out of this holy people; that is, they are to be bound and
excluded by means of the keys, as will happen to the Anti-
nomians if they do not repent.
You must not think of these keys, however, as the pope's
two keys which he has turned into tools with which he picks
the locks to the treasure-chests and crowns of all kings. 1 If
he will not "bind" or rebuke sin either publicly or privately
(and he will not!), then do you rebuke and "bind" it in
your parish; and if he will not "loose," or forgive it, then
do you "loose'* and forgive it in your parish. His "reserv-
ing" and "binding," and his "relaxing" and dispensation
make you neither holy nor unholy, since he cannot have the
keys, but only lock-picking tools. The keys belong, not to
the pope, as he lyingly says, but to the Church, that is, to
Christ's people, God's people, the holy Christian people
throughout the world, or wherever there are Christians.
They cannot all be at Rome, unless the whole world were
at Rome, and that has not happened yet* As Baptism, the
Sacrament, and God's Word do not belong to the pope but
to the Church, so with the keys, they are claves eccle-
s i a e a , not claves papae. 1
Fifth. The Church is known outwardly by the fact
that it consecrates or calls ministers, 3 or has offices which M * ni * try
they occupy. For we must have bishops, pastors, or preach-
ers, to give, administer and use, publicly and privately, the
four things, or precious possessions, 4 that have been men-
tioned, for the sake of and in the name of the Church, or
rather because of their institution by Christ, as St. Paul Epk
says, in Ephesians iv, Accepit dona in ho.mini- 4:11
bus, 8 "and gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists,
teachers and governors, etc." The whole group cannot do
these things, but must commit them, or allow them to be
1 Luther had previously discussed this subject at length in his work O n t h e
Keys (1530). Weimar Ed., XXX a , 435 ff.; Erlangen Ed. XXXI,
126 ff.
* "The Church's keys, not the pope's keys."
Kirchendiener.
*Heiltu<m. See ahove, p. 270, note 2,
8 "He received gifts among meto.'* Luther is quoting, as usual* from mem*
oty, and confuses Ephu 4: 3 with Pa. 68: 19, from which the Ephesian passage
quotes,
276 On the Councils and the Qmrches
committed, to someone. What would happen if everyone
wanted to speak or administer the sacraments and no one
would yield to another? This duty must be committed to
one person, and he alone must be allowed to preach, bap-
tize, absolve, and administer the sacraments; all the rest
must be content with this and agree to it. Wherever you
see this, be assured that God's people, the Christian, holy
people, is present.
It is true, indeed, that the Holy Ghost has made excep-
tion, in this matter, of women, children, and incompetent
I Tim folk, and, except in cases of necessity ? chooses only qualified
3:2; males. Thus we read here and there in St. Paul's epistles
Tit i:6 that a bishop must be apt to teach, pious, and the husband
I Cot. ^ one wife and in I Corinthians xiv, that a woman shall
14:34 not teach in the assembly. In a word, it shall be a well-
prepared, selected man, and children, women, and other per-
sons are not qualified for it, though they are qualified to hear
God's Word and to receive baptism, the Sacrament, and abso-
I Pet lution, and are true, holy fellow-Christians, 1 as St. Peter says.
3:7 This distinction is made in Nature and in God's creation also,
where no woman (still less children and fools !) can or ought
have rulership, as experience tells us, and Moses says, in
3:16 Genesis iii, "Thou shalt be in subjection to thy husband."
The Gospel does not abolish this natural law, but confirms it
as the ordinance and creation of God.
Here the pope, with his loud-mouthed uproar-makers for
the devil 3 will interrupt me, and say: "St Paul speaks not
isteti only of pastors and preachers, but also of apostles, evan-
gelists, prophets, and other high spiritual classes; 3 there-
fore there must be in the Church higher classes than the
pastors and preachers. Where now, Sir Luther?" Where?
This is where! If they will become apostles, evangelists,
prophets, or will show me one such; oh, what folly I am
talking if they will show me one person among them who
is worth as much as a school-boy, or who can do as much
with Holy Scripture as a seven-year-old girl, I will give
1 Le. y Fellow-Christians with the ministers.
3 See above, p. 271f.
Or "higher clergy."
On the Councils and the Churches 277
up. Now I know for certain that an apostle, evangelist,
prophet can do more than a seven-year-old girl. I speak in
respect of the Holy Scriptures and of faith; for that they
can do more in doctrines of men and in rascality, that I
thoroughly believe, even more strongly than I believe in
God, because they are proving it before my eyes by the
things that they are doing. Therefore, as they are the
Church, so they are also apostles, evangelists, and prophets ;*
for true apostles, evangelists, and prophets preach God's
Word, not against God's Word.
Now, if the apostles, evangelists, and prophets have
ceased, others must have arisen in their stead, and must
continue to arise until the end of the world ; for the Church
shall not cease until the end of the world, and therefore
apostles, evangelists, prophets must continue, by whatever
names they may be called who are occupied with God's Word
and work. The pope and his followers, who persecute God's
Word and yet admit that it is true, must be very bad apos-
tles, evangelists, and prophets, like the devil and his angels.
But how I do come back to the pope's shameful, filthy peo-
ple ! Let them go again, and tell them not to come back !
It was said above about the other four points of the great,
divine, holy possession 2 whereby the holy Chuch is made
holy, that you ought not to be concerned about who they are
from whom it is received. So here, too, you ought not to
ask who he is that gives it to you, or who has the official
position. It is all given, not to him who has the office, but
to him who, through his office, is to give it, except, of course,
that he can get it with you, if he will. If he is in office and
is tolerated by the assembly, let that be enough for you ; his
person makes God's Word and sacraments neither worse
nor better for you. For what he says or does Is not his
own, but it is Christ, his Lord, and the Holy Ghost who
speak and act through him, in so far as he stays within the
right way of teaching and acting, though the Church cannot
and ought not endure open vices;* but as for yourself, be
1 i.e., They are no more apostles, etc., than they are the Church.
"Heiltum, Cf. abonre, p. 270, note 2.
a e. In its ministers.
278 On the Councils and the Churches
content and let it go ; you alone cannot be the whole group,
or the Christian, holy people.
But you must not consider 1 the pope, who forbids any
Celibacy married man to be called to this office, but declares, with
Nestorian logic, that they must all be pure virgins. That
is as much as to say that all the clergy must be pure, but
that they themselves may be impure. But look at that ! You
are coming at me again with the pope, and I did not want
you any more ! Ah, well ; unwelcome guest though you are,
I will give you a Lutheran reception.
The pope condemns the marriage of the bishops or pas-
tors ; that is plain enough. Not satisfied with that, he con-
demns bigamy far more strongly, and, to speak out clearly,
he distinguishes four kinds of bigamists, if not five. I will
call a bigamist one who has two wives, one who marries
twice, or takes another's widow. The first kind of bigamist
is one who marries two maids in succession ; the second
kind, one who takes a widow to wife; the third kind, one
who takes a bride whose deceased husband has left her a
virgin. The fourth kind of bigamist gets the name shame-
fully; if he marries a virgin and afterwards finds that she
was not pure, not a virgin; in the pope's eyes he must be a
bigamist, and a far worse one than he who took another's
bride who was a virgin. All these stink and have an evil
smell in the Canon Law. 9 They dare not preach, baptize,
administer the sacraments or hold any office in the Church,
even though they were holier than St. John and their wives
holier than the Mother of God. So marvellously holy is the
pope in his decrees !
If a man have ravished a hundred virgins, violated a hun-
dred widows, and still have a hundred harlots behind his
hack, he may become bishop or pope, and even though he
were to continue this kind of doings, he would, nevertheless,
be tolerated in these offices ; but if he gets a bride who is a
virgin, or a pretended virgin, he cannot be God's servant.
*This whole section repeats the ideas of a sermon preacfoed by Luther.
March 2, 1539. Cf. Weimar Ed. XLVII, 676. '
J The Weimar Ed. gives the following references: Decret. Grat.,
diat. 26, cap. 1-3; diet. 34, cap. 9-18; Deere?, Greg. lib. I*
tit, 21.
On the Councils and the Churches 279
It makes no difference that he is a true Christian, learned,
pious, useful; he is a bigamist, and must get out of his
office and never come back to it again. What think you?
Is that not a higher holiness than that of Christ Himself,
with the Holy Ghost and His Church? Christ does not
spurn men with one wife or two wives and women with one
husband or two, 1 if they believe in Him. He lets them re-
main members of His holy Christian people ; uses them, also,
in those things for which they are, or can be, useful. The
Holy Scriptures give the name of bigamist to one who, like Gen.
Lamech, has two wives living at the same time ; but the pope * :1 9
is more learned, and gives the name of bigamist to one who
has two wives in succession, and so with the women. He is
far more learned than God Himself.
Finer still, the pope himself admits that the marriage o
a bigamist 3 is a true marriage and is no sin against God,
world, or Church, and that such a marriage is a sacrament
of the Church; and yet the man must be rejected from office-
holding in the Church, even though he belongs to the third
or fourth class 8 and ought rather be called a man with one
wife, or the husband of a virgin. Why so? Ei, the fault
lies here ! Such a marriage cannot be a sacrament or figure
of Christ and the Church; for Christ has only one bride,
the Church, and the Church only one husband, Christ, and
both remain virgin. On this point there is so much sheer
nonsense talked that no one can tell it all, and the canonists
ought really be called lawyers for asses.
In the first place, if marriage is to be a sacrament 4 of
Christ and the Church, then no marriage can be a sacrament Marriage
unless both bridegroom and bride remain virgin ; for Christ
and the Church remain virgin. Whence, then, shall we get
children and heirs? What will become of the estate of
marriage that God has instituted? In a word, there will be
no marriages but that, of Mary and Joseph and others like it;
a This Is not intended by Luther as a defense of bigamy. He only wants
to show the absurdity and the wrong of the meaning attached to "bigamy"
by the Canon Law, the "successive'* and "interpretative** bigamy, which he has
described in the preceding paragraph.
'i.e., A second marriage.
8 Of those mentioned above.
*Or "type"; see above.
280 On the Councils and the Churches
none of the rest of the marriages can be a sacrament; per-
haps they may even be harlotry.
In the second place, who has ever taught this or appointed
E . it, that we must keep it? "St. Paul," say they, "says in
5:32 Ephesians iv, that man and wife are a great sacrament/'
Yes, say I, "in Christ and the Church." Dear fellow, can
you get it out of these words of Paul that marriage is the
kind of a sacrament that they speak of? He says, "Man
and wife are one body; this is a great sacrament/' 1 Then
he interprets this himself: "I speak of Christ and the
Church, not of man and wife." They say that he is speaking
of man and wife. Paul will have Christ and the Church tcf
be a great sacrament, or "mystery" ; they say that man and
wife are a great sacrament. Why, then, do they hold it for
almost the least of the sacraments, nay, for impurity and
sin, in which one cannot serve God? Moreover, can you find
it in St. Paul's words that men and women who are married
a second time are not man and wife, or one flesh? If they
are one flesh, why are they not also a sacrament of Christ in
the Church ? St. Paul speaks in general, of all married men
and women who become one flesh, whether they have never
been married before or are widowed, and calls them a sac-
rament, as you understand the word "sacrament." Whence,
then, are you so clever as to make a difference in marriage
and take only the single marriage as a sacrament of Christ
and the Church, the marriage, namely, in which a man
marries a virgin, and exclude all other marriages? Who
has commissioned you thus to torture and force St. Paul's
words ?
Besides, you do not hold even such a marriage as a sac-
rament. For bridegrooms do not let their brides remain
virgins, and they do not take husbands in order that they
may stay virgins, which they could do much better without
husbands ; but they desire and ought to bear children ; God
has made them for that. Where now is the sacrament of
Christ and the Church, both of whom remained virgin ? Is
*This is the Vulgatef text The English versions and Luther himself (sec
below) reader the Greek correctly, "This is a great mystery."
On the Councils and the Churches 281
it a fine argument a f i g u r a ad historiam, vel e
contra, ab historia ad f-igurara? 1 Where did
you learn such logic ? Christ and the Church are married,
but remain virgin in the body; therefore man and wife shall
remain virgin in the body also. Again : Christ is married
only to a virgin, therefore a Christian or priest shall be mar-
ried only to a virgin, otherwise there is no sacrament. Why,
then, do you yield the point and say that the marriage of a
widow is a sacrament, because it is a marriage, and yet is not
a sacrament, because the wife was not a virgin? Are you
not mad and foolish, and gross Nestorians, not knowing
when you say yes or no, saying one thing in the premise and
another in the conclusion ? Away with such asses and fools I
Another error has come out of this one (unless indeed,
this one has come out of the other). They have called the
bishops and popes bridegrooms of the Church. 3 They cite
for this the word of St. Paul, "A bishop shall be the husband I Tim.
of one wife/' that is, the bishop of one church, as Christ is 3:2
the bridegroom of one Church ; therefore they shall not be
bigamists. Verily, popes and bishops are fine fellows to be
bridegrooms of the Church, nay, of brothel-keepers and
devil's daughters in hell ! True bishops are servants of this
bride and she is lady and mistress over them. St. Paul calls
himself d i a c o n u s , "a servant of the Church/' and will I Cor.
not be bridegroom or lord of this bride, but the true bride- 3:5
groom of this bride is called Jesus Christ, Son of God. St.
John says not, "I am the bridegroom," but, "I am the friend
of the bridegroom and rejoice to hear his speech." "For
he that hath the bride/' saith he, "is the bridegroom." His John
speech one should hear with joy, and thereafter think of 3:29
himself as a servant.
How finely they themselves observe even this tomfoolery !
A bishop has three bishoprics f yet he must be called "hus-
band of one wife." Even though he has only one bishopric,
he still has a hundred, two hundred, five hundred, or more
parishes, or churches ; yet he is bridegroom of one Church.
* w j l rom figure to fact, ocr conversely, from fact to figure."
*In the Caacm Law, Decret. Grat., dist. 26, cap. 2.
A possible allusion to Albrecht of Mainz.
282 On the Councils and the Churches
The pope would be bridegroom of all churches, large and
small; yet he is called husband of one Church. These men
are not dig ami, "bigamists/' though they have all these
brides at one time ; but a man who marries a virgin who has
been betrothed to another is a digamus. Such gross
and monstrous folly will God inflict upon us, if we despise
His Word and want to improve on His commands.
Nay, they have an Acutius in their Decretum 1
in which St. Augustine holds, against St. Jerome, that he
who had a wife before he was baptized and has one after-
wards is a bigamist. Dear jack-asses, does it follow from
this that St. Augustine, even though he holds such a man a
bigamist (which the Scriptures do not!), will have him con-
demned, as you do, so that he may not serve God? And
even though this should follow, have you not to the contrary,
in d i s t . 9, a strong noli m e i s ? a How is it that you
hold so fast to the Acutius, though it is contrary to
Scripture, and pass over so lightly the Noli m e i s and
other chapters? This is your idea: you would be lords of
the Church ; what you say shall be right ; marriage shall be
right and a sacrament, if you will it so; marriage shall be
an impurity, that is, a defiled sacrament that cannot serve
God, if you will it so ; marriage shall bear children and the
wife yet remain a virgin or it is no sacrament of Christ and
the Church, if you will it so; bigamists are without guilt
and have a true marriage and sacrament, if you will it so;
or they are condemned and cannot do God service and have
no sacrament of Christ and the Church, if you will it so.
See how the devil, who teaches you this nonsense, makes you
reel around and wobble back and forth.
How comes it that I must hold Augustine's saying an
article of faith, 4 if he himself will not have his sayings held
as articles of faith and will not suffer the sayings of his
predecessors as articles of faith? Suppose that the dear
fathers did hold and teach that digamus was 'the name
1 i.c., In the Canon Law. Acutius is the first word of the quotation
from Augustine in Decret. Grat.dist. 26, cap. 2; the Quotation from
Jerome, ibid, cap. 1.
a See above, p. 148, where Luther quotes the passage.
* In the passage Noli meis, referred to above.
On the Councils and the Churches 283
for the sort of man we have been speaking of; what has
that to do with us ? We need not so hold and teach for that
reason. We must not found our salvation on the words and
works of men, or otir houses on hay and straw. But the
canonists are such gross fools, with their idols at Rome, that
they take the words and deeds of the dear fathers and,
against their will and without their consent, make them
articles of faith. It should be proved by Scripture that such
men are to be called bigamists and trigamists, and then it
would be right that they should not be servants of the church
according to St. Paul's teaching, "A bishop shall be the
husband of one wife/' But it has happened often enough
that the fathers have sewed old patches on new cloth. Here
is a case. It is right that no d i g a m u s shall be a servant
of the Church, that is the new cloth ; but that this or that
man is a digamus, that is an old rag o their own opin-
ion, because the Scriptures do not say it. In the Scriptures,
a bigamist is one who has two wives living at the same time,
and St. Paul was thought to have had a wife 1 (Philippians
iv) and that she had died. Accordingly, he, too, must have
been a bigamist and have been compelled to give up his office
of apostle ; for in I Corinthians vii he counts himself among-
the widowed, and yet, in I Corinthians ix, he wants to have
the right, along with Barnabas, to take another wife. Who
will assure us that the poor fishermen, Peter, Andrew, and
James, were married to virgins, and not to widows, and had
not two wives in succession ?
The blockheads have not the same idea of purity that
the fathers had, but would lead poor souls astray and en-
danger them, only in order that their nasty, stinking book 2
may be right, and that their science may not be able to err
and may not have erred ; otherwise they would see what is
considered purity. In other opinions (and what is this but
a matter of mere opinions?) they can say finely: Non
tenetur, hoc tene 8 ; why can they not do it here,
*This conclusion rests on a mistaken interpretation of Phil. 4:3 and I
Cor. 7:8.
fl The Canon Law.
"It is not held; but hold this."
284 On the Councils and the Churches
especially since in causis decidendis 1 they have to
throw away not one father only, but all of them together,
as their idol sputters and bellows? But they want to rule
the Church, not with assured wisdom, but with arbitrary
opinions, while on the other hand, they lead all the souls in
the world astray and throw them into uncertainty, as they
have done before. But just as they reject all the fathers and
theologians from their canons, so we reject them from the
Church and the Scriptures. They shall neither teach us
Scripture nor rule in the Church, but shall look after their
canons and their quarrels over pretends; that is their holi-
ness. They have put us poor theologians and all the fathers
out of their books; and we thank them for it. Now they
want to put us out of the Church and the Scriptures, and
they cannot get in themselves. That is too much! It rips
the bag wide open ! Moreover we shall not put up with it !
I hold, in truth, that according to their wisdom no man
would be able to take a maid to wife and, after her death,
become a priest among them; for who can give him any
guarantee that he is getting a maid ? "The toad runs past
the door/' 3 as they say. Now if he find her not a maid, a
chance that he has to take, then he is a stinking bigamist,
without any fault of his own. If he would be certain that
he can become a priest, he must take no maid to wife ; for
who will assure him of it? He may, however, ravish maids,
widows, and wives, have many mistresses, and practice all
kinds of silent sins ; and yet be worthy of the priestly state.
The sum of it all is that pope, devil, and his church hate
Dan. the estate of matrimony, as Daniel says ; therefore he wants
17:37 to bring it into such disgrace that a married ,man cannot fill
a priest's office. That is as much as to say that marriage is
harlotry, sin, impure, and rejected by God; and although
they say, at the same time, that it is holy and a sacrament,
that is a lie of their false hearts, for if they seriously con-
sidered it holy, and a sacrament, they would not forbid the
priests to marry. Because they do forbid them, they must
consider it unclean, and a sin, as they plainly say, M u n d a -
*"In the cases to be decided."
a A proverb, equivalent to, "Mistakes are easy."
On the Councils and the Churches 285
mini qui f ertis 1 ; or else they must be gross Nestor-
ians and Eutychians, who affirm a premise and deny the
conclusion.
Let this suffice this time for the papal ass with his asinine
jurists. We return to our own people.
Pay no heed, as I have said, to the papists concerning
who it is that occupies Church offices, for the asses do not
understand St. Paul and do not know what St. Paul's lan-
guage calls a sacrament. "Sacrament," he says, "is Christ
and His Church," that is, Christ and His Church are one 5:32
body, as are man and wife; but this is a great mystery and
must he laid hold upon by faith ; it is not visible or tangible,
therefore it is a sacrament, i.e., a secret thing, myster-
i u m , invisible, hidden. Since, however, not those only who
have entered matrimony as virgins, but also those who marry
out of widowhood, are one body, therefore every marriage is
a figure or symbol of this great sacrament, or mystery, in
Christ and the Church. St, Paul speaks neither of virgins
nor widows ; he speaks of marriage, in which man and wife
are one body. Wherever, then, you find these offices and
officers, there be sure that the holy, Christian people must be.
The Church cannot be without bishops, pastors, preachers,
priests; on the other hand, they cannot be without the
Church ; both must be together.
Sixth. The holy, Christian people is known by prayer
and public thanksgiving and praise to God. Where you see
and hear that the Lord's Prayer is prayed and the use of it is
taught; where Psalms, or spiritual songs, are sung, in ac-
cordance with the Word of God and the right faith; when
the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Catechism are
openly used; there be sure that a holy Christian people is;,
for prayer, too, is one of the precious holy possessions, 5 *
whereby everything is made holy, as St, Paul says. Thus I Tim.
the Psalms also are nothing but prayers, in which praise, 4:S
thanks and honor are rendered to God, and the Creed and
Ten Commandments, and God's Word, too, are all holy
possessions, 8 whereby the Holy Ghost makes holy the holy
a "Th.ou must be clean, who bearest (the vessels of the Lord)".
a D e r heiltumb eins. See above, p. 270 note 2.
Eitel heilthum.
286 On the Councils and the Churches
people of Christ. We speak, however, of prayers and songs
that can be understood, from which it is possible to learn and
whereby men may amend their lives ; for the noises made by
monks and nuns and priests are not prayers or praises to
God. They do not understand it and learn nothing from it ;
they do it like hard labor, 1 for the belly's sake, and seek
thereby no improvement of life, no progress in holiness, no
doing of God's will.
7. sf- Seventh. The holy, Christian Church is outwardly
known by the holy possession 2 of the Holy Cross. It must
endure all hardship and persecution, all kinds of temptation
and evil (as the Lord's Prayer says) from devil, world, and
flesh; it must be inwardly sad, timid, terrified; outwardly
poor, despised, sick, weak; thus it becomes like its head,
Christ. 3 The reason must be only this, that it holds fast
to Christ and God's Word and thus suffers for Christ's sake,
according to Matthew v, "Blessed are they that endure per-
5;10 secution for my sake." They must be righteous, quiet, obe-
dient, ready to serve their rulers and everyone else with body
and wealth, doing no one any harm. But no people on earth
must endure such bitter hatred. They must be worse than
Jews, heathen, Turks ; they must be called heretics, knaves,
devils, accursed, and the worst people in the world, to the
point where they are "doing God service" who hang them,
drown them, slay them, torture them, hunt them down,
plague them to death, and where no one has pity on them,
but gives them myrrh and gall to drink, when they thirst,
not because they are adulterers, murderers, thieves or scoun-
drels, but because they will to have Christ alone, and no other
God. Where you see or hear this, there know that the holy
Christian Church is, as He says, in Matthew v, "Blessed are
^n 12 ye ' w ^ en men curse y u an< * Deject your name as an evil,
' wicked thing for my sake. Be glad and rejoice, for your
reward in heaven is great." With this holy possession* the
Holy Ghost m^kes this people, not only holy, but blessed.
And be not concerned with the holy things of the papists,
1 E3elserbeit.
a Heilthum. See above, p. 270, note 2.
*Heilthum. See above, p. 270, note 2.
On the Councils and the Churches 287
with dead saints and wood of the Holy Cross ; for they are
as often bones from the slaughter-house as bones of saints
and as often wood from some gallows as wood of the Holy
Cross. It is all a cheat, by which the pope tricks people
out of their money and leads them away from Christ, and
even though they were genuine relics, they would make no
one holy. But when you are condemned for Christ's sake,
cursed, accused, slandered, plagued, that makes you holy,
for it slays the old Adam, and makes him learn patience,
humility, gentleness, teaching him to praise and thank God
and to be joyful in suffering. That is what it means to be
made holy by the Holy Ghost and renewed to the new life
in Christ and thus we learn to believe God, trust Him, hope
in Him, love Him ; as Romans v says, Tribulatio Rom - S:4
s p e m / etc.
These are the true seven chief parts of the high and holy
possession 3 whereby the Holy Ghost works in us a daily
sanctification and vivification in Christ according to the
First Table of Moses. 3 By their help we fulfil it, though
not so fully as Christ has done; but we constantly seek to
do so, under redemption, or forgiveness of sin, until at last
we become quite holy and need no more forgiveness. To
that end it is all directed. I would even call these seven
things the seven sacraments, but this word, "sacrament," has
been misused by the papists and is used in another sense in
Scripture, therefore I let them remain simply seven chief
means of Christian sanctification, or seven holy possessions.*
Beside these seven chief things, there are other outward other
signs whereby the holy Christian Church is known, viz., those ^ the
whereby the Holy Ghost makes us holy according to the church
Second Table of Moses, 8 as when he helps us to honor
father and mother from the heart, and helps them to raise
their children in a Christian way and to lead honorable
lives; when we serve our princes and lords faithfully and
obediently and are subject to them, and they, in turn, love
* "Tribulation worketh hope.**
a Heilthum.
8 i.e,, A life that fulfils the commandments of the first table, which refer to
duty owed to God.
*Heil th umb.
The commandments which declare the duties owed to fellowmcn.
Vol 5.-19
288 On the Councils and the Churches
their subjects and protect and guard them; when we are
angry with no one, bear no wrath, hatred, envy, or venge-
fulness toward our neighbor, but gladly forgive him, gladly
lend to him, help and counsel him; when we are not un-
chaste, immoderate in drinking, proud, haughty, boastful,
but pure, self-controlled, sober, kindly, gentle, and humble;
do not steal, rob, take usury, indulge in greed, cheat, but are
mild, kind, satisfied, generous ; are not false, lying and per-
juring, but truthful, reliable, and whatever else is taught in
these commandments, all of which St. Paul teaches abun-
dantly in more than one place. For we need the Decalog not
only because it tells us in legal fashion what we are bound
to do, but also in order that we may see in it how far the
Holy Ghost has brought us in His sanctifying work, and
how much we still fall short, so that we may not become
careless and think that we have now done all that is required.
Thus we are constantly to grow in sanctification and ever to
become more and more "a new creature" in Christ The
;word is Crescite and Abundetis magis.*
These marks cannot, however, be considered to be as cer-
tain as the others, 3 because the heathen have practiced
these works and sometimes appear holier than the Christians.
Nevertheless their actions do not come so purely and simply
from the heart for God's sake, but they seek some other end
thereby, since they have no real faith and no true knowledge
of God. But the Holy Ghost is here, 8 and He sanctifies
men's hearts, and brings these fruits out of good, fine hearts,
13:23 as Christ says in the parable, in Matthew xiii ; and yet be-
cause the First Table is higher and must be a greater holy
8:15 possession,* I have tried to gather all this up in the Second
Table; otherwise I should have divided this, too, into seven
holy possessions, or main points, according to the seven Com-
mandments. 5
We now know for certain what, where, and who the holy
1 "Increase" (II Pet. 3:18) and "Abound more and more" (I Thess. 4:1).
a .e., Those which Luther has called **the seven holy possessions" of the
Church.
*i.e., Among the Christians, as He is not among the heathen,
*Heilthum .
*In Luther's division, the First Table contained three Commandments; the
Second Table seven
M*rk
On the Councils and the Churches 289
Christian Church is, viz,, the holy Christian people of God,
and these marks cannot fail, of that we are sure. All else
beside them may fail, and does assuredly fail, as we shall
hear In part. From out of this people men should be taken
to form a council and that might be a council which was ruled
by the Holy Ghost. Thus Lyra, 1 too, says that the Church
is not to be counted by the high, or spiritual, classes in it, but
by the people who truly believe. It is a wonder to me that
he was not burned for this statement, since he will not allow
that popes, cardinals, bishops and prelates are the Church,
and this results in horrible heresy which the holy Roman
Church cannot endure and which touches it far too closely.
Of this more in another place!
Now when the devil saw God building this holy Christian
Church, he took no holiday, but built his own chapel along-
side it, greater than God's temple, and this is how he did it. of **
He saw that God took outward things, baptism, Word,
Sacrament, keys, and used them to make His church holy;
and because he is always aping God and trying to imitate
God and improve on Him in everything, he, too, took out-
ward things that were to become means to holiness (acting
just as he does with the rain-makers, conjurers, drivers-out
of devils, etc.) and he even has the Lord's Prayer prayed
over them and the Gospels read over them. Thus through
the popes and the papists he has caused the consecration, or
hallowing, of water, salt, herbs, candles, bells, images,
agnusdei, 3 pallia, 3 chasubles, tonsures, fingers, hands,
who will count all these things? At last he made the
monks' cowls so holy that people died in them and were
buried in them, as though by so doing they were saved. 4
It would have been a fine thing, to be sure, if God's Word,
or a blessing, or a prayer, had been said over these created
things, as children say them over their food, or over them-
selves, when they go to bed or arise. Of this St. Paul says
* Nicholas of Lyra (d. 1340), one of the most famous of the mediaeval com-
mentators on the Bible. Luther refers to him frequently and the present
passage is quoted by Melanchthon in the Ap ol ogy, Ch. IV. (MUELLER p. 156,
22; JACOBS, Bookof Concord, p. 166).
a Amulets of wax, stamped with the image of the Lamb of God and worn
as charms.
* The insignia of the archbishop's office. See VoL I, p. 89, n. 3.
* See above, p. 248f .
290 On the Councils and the Churches
i Tim. "Every creature is good and is sanctified by the Word and
prayer," for from such a practice "the creature" gets no new
power, but is confirmed and strengthened in its former
power. But the devil is after something else! He wants
"the creature" to get new power and might from his mum-
tniery. By means of God's Word, water becomes baptism,
that is, a bath unto everlasting life, which washes away sins
and saves men, though this is not the natural power of water ;
bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ ; by the
laying-on of hands, sins are forgiven according to God's in-
stitution. In just the same way the devil would have his
jugglery and mummery endued with power and do something
supernatural. Holy water is to blot out sin, drive out
devils, keep off evil spirits, and protect women in child-bed,
as the pope teaches in the canon Aquam s a 1 e , d e pe 1 ;
consecrated salt is to have the same effect. An agnus dei
consecrated by the pope is to do more than God Himself
can do, as this is described in verses that I shall some day
publish with notes. Bells are to drive away the devils in
thunder-storms; St. Anthony's knives stab the devil; the
blessing of herbs drives away poisonous worms; certain
blessings heal sick cows, keep off milk-thieves, 3 quench fires ;
certain writings give security, in war and at other times,
against iron, fire, water, wild beasts, etc.; mionastic vows,
masses, and the like confer a salvation that is beyond the
ordinary. Who can tell it all? There is no need so small
that the devil has not instituted a sacrament, or holy posses-
sion, 3 for it, whereby one may find aid and counsel against
It. Besides, he has also had prophets, seers, and wise men,
who have been able to reveal hidden things and restore stolen
goods.
Oh, he, far more than God, is fitted out with sacraments,
prophets, apostles, evangelists; his chapels are far larger
than God's Church; and he has far more people in his kind
of holiness than God has in His. Moreover, people believe
1 The canon referred to is found in Deere t. Grat. Ill, d i s t . 3, c. 20.
The d^e p e is either a slip of the pen or a misprint for de co (d e conse-
cration e) , the title of the chapter containing this canon.
a Le., Witches who make cows go dry.
HeiIthum; see above., p. 270, note 2,
On the Councils and the Churches 291
more easily and more gladly in his promises, his sacraments,
his prophets, than in Christ's. He is the great god of the
world; Christ calls him "Prince of the world/' and Paul John
"God of this world." With this apery he draws people away 14:3
from faith in Christ and causes Christ's Word and sacra- Il ^*
ments to be despised. He does this quite without their
knowledge, because it is easier to perceive such things as the
blotting out of sin, aid in time of need, and the conferring
of salvation, through the devil's sacrarrients than through
Christ's sacraments. It is Christ's will to make people holy
and good in body and soul by His Holy Spirit, and not let
them stay in unbelief and sin. This is too hard for those
who do not want to be good or to have their sins forgiven,
and they can readily dispense with this work of the Holy
Ghost, after they have learned that they can be saved more
easily, without this work of the Holy Ghost, by such means
as holy water, a gnus dei, bulls and breves, masses and
monks' cowls, and that it is not necessary to seek or to
revere anything else.
Not only so, but the devil has so fitted himself out with
these things that he has wanted to use them for the abolition
of God's Word and sacraments. He has thought thus : "If
anyone shall arise who shall attack my church, sacraments,
and bishops, saying that external things do not save men,
then God's Word and sacraments shall be destroyed along
with them. For these, too, are outward signs, and His bish-
ops and His Church are also men. If mine are to be of no
account, His must be of far less account. First of all, because
my church, bishops, and sacraments work instanter and help
men in this present life, so that they cannot help seeing it,
for I am there and help men quickly to what they desire; but
Christ's sacraments work for a future and invisible spiritual
state, so that His Church and bishops can scarcely be per-
ceived 1 a very little, afar off, and the Holy Ghost acts as
though He were not there, lets people suffer all misfortune
and makes them appear, in the eyes of my church, as heretics.
Meanwhile, not only is my church so close that a man can
actually grasp it, but my works follow quickly; and so
1 IrUther says "smelled."
292 On the Councils and the Churches
everyone thinks that it is the true Church of God. This is
the advantage that I have/'
That is how things have gone. When we began to teach,
by the Gospel, that these outward things could not save men,
because they were mere natural, created things and the devil
often used them as spells, then people, even great and
learned people came to the conclusion that baptism because
it was eternal water, the Word because it was outward,
human speech, the Scriptures because they were outward
letters, made with ink, bread and wine because baked by
the baker, that all these things were nothing at all, because
they were external, perishable things. Thus they devised the
slogan, "Spirit! Spirit! The Spirit must do it! The let-
ter killeth." Thus Miinzer 1 called us Wittenberg theolog-
ians men learned in the Scriptures arid himself the man
taught of the Spirit 3 ; and many others followed his example.
There you see how the devil had armed himself and built up
his barricades! If his external doctrine and sacraments
(which bring quick, visible, mighty aid) were attacked, then
Christ's external sacraments and words (which are slow
with their aid, or bring aid that is invisible and weak) must
go to far worse destruction along with them.
Therefore the Ecclesia, the holy Christian people, has
mere outward words, sacraments, and offices, such as God's
imitator, Satan, has and has in far greater number; but it
has these things commanded, instituted, and ordained by
God, so that He Himself, and not any angel, will work
through them with the Holy Ghost. They are called the
Word, baptism, Sacrament, and forgiving-office not of an-
gels, or of men, or of creatures, but of God Himself ; only
it is His will to act for the comfort and good of us poor,
weak, feeble men through them, and not through His un-
veiled, evident, bright majesty. For who could bear that
for an instant in this sinful, poor flesh, as Moses says,
33:20 Non videbit me homo et vivet? 8 Thus the Jews
could not endure even the shoes of His feet on Mount Sinai,
*The reference is to his Schutzrede and antwort (1524).
a Uns die S ch rif f t gel ert en und sich den Geistgelef-
ten.
a "No man shall see me and live."
On the Councils and the Churches 293
that is, in the thunder and the clouds, and how would they
have endured, with such feeble eyes, the sun of His divine
majesty and the clear light of His countenance? But He
wills to do these things by tolerable, sober, pleasant means,
which could not be better chosen by ourselves ; as, for ex-
ample, by a good, kindly man, who talks with us, preaches to
us, lays his hands upon us, forgives our sins, baptizes us,
gives us bread and wine to eat and drink. Who can be ter-
rified at such tender ways of acting and not rather rejoice in
them with all his heart?
Well, then, that is just what is done for us feeble men,
and in it we see how God treats us like dear children, and is
not willing though He has the right, to deal with us in
majesty; and yet, beneath it all, He is using His majestic
divine works, might and power, forgiving sin, cleansing from
sin, taking away death, bestowing grace and everlasting life.
These things are not found in the devil's sacraments and
church. There no one can say, <f God commanded it,
ordered it, instituted it, founded it, and He will Himself be
there and do everything." On the contrary, one must then
say, "God; did not command it, but forbade it; men have
invented it, or rather the imitator of God 1 has invented it
and leads the people astray with it." He produces no effects
that are not temporal, or if they are spiritual, they are sheer
deception. He cannot forgive men's sins eternally and save
them, as he lyingly says, by means of holy water, masses,
and the monastic life; though, to be sure, he can restore to
a cow the milk that he has first stolen from her by means of
his prophetesses and priestesses, 3 whom Christians call
"devil's harlots," and who, when they are discovered, are
burned to death with fire, as is right, not for milk-stealing,
but for blasphemy, because they strengthen the devil, with
his sacraments and churches, against Christ.
In a word, if God were to bid you pick up a straw or pull
out a feather* with the coonmiand, order, and promise that
thereby you should have forgiveness of all your sins, grace,
and everlasting life, ought you not accept that, and love and
praise it, with all joy and thankfulness, and consider that
*Der Gottes Affe, i.e., Satan.
'Witches. On "milk-stealing" cf. above, p. 290.
294 On the Councils and the Churches
straw and feather as a higher and holier possession than
heaven and earth, and love it more than them? For how-
ever small the straw or feather is, you get by it such a
possession as neither heaven nor earth, nay, not all the
angels, can give you. Why are we such shameful folk
that we do not consider the water of baptism, the bread and
wine, that is, Christ's body and blood, the spoken Word,
and the laying-on of a man's hands for the forgiveness of
sins to be as holy a possession 1 as we would think such a
straw or feather to be? And yet, in these things, as we see
and hear, God Himself wills to work and they are to be His
water, word, hand, bread, and wine, whereby it is His will to
make us holy and give us life in Christ, who has obtained
these things for us and for this work has given us, from the
Father, the Holy Ghost.
On the other hand, even though you were to go to Com-
postella* to St. James or let yourself be killed by the severe
life of the Carthusians, Franciscans, or Dominicans in order
to be saved, and God had not bidden this or instituted it;
what good would it do you? He knows nothing about
these things, but you and the devil have thought them up,
like the special sacraments and the classes of priests. Even
though you were able to carry heaven and earth on your
shoulders in order to be saved, it would be labor lost, and
he who picked up the straw (if it were commanded) would
do more than you, though you could carry ten worlds. Why
so ? It is God's will that we shall obey His Word, use His
sacraments, honor His Church; then He will act graciously
and tenderly enough, even more graciously and tenderly than
we could desire; for it is said, "I am thy God; thou shalt
20:21 have no other gods"; and it is said again, "Him shalt thou
Matt hear, and no other."
17:5 That is enough to say about the Church. Nothing more
can be said about it, except that each section could be devel-
oped further. The rest must deal with another subject, 8 of
which we shall also speak.
1 Sohoch Heilthttm.
3 The shrine of St. James at Compostella, in Spain: a famous place of
[pilgrimage, Cf. Vol. I, p. 191, n. 1.
8 M us cine andere Meinung haben .
On the Councils and the Churches 295
Beside these external marks and holy possessions 1 the Customs
Church has still other external customs. It is not made holy and
by them or through them, either in body or soul; they are*"**
not instituted or commanded by God; and yet, as has been
said o them at length above, they are of great necessity
and usefulness, and are fine and proper. Such customs are
the keeping of certain holidays and of certain hours, before
or after noon, as times for preaching and prayer, and the-
use of church buildings, or houses, altars, pulpits, fonts,
lights, candles, bells, vestments and the like. These things
have no other effect and do nothing else than lies in their
nature, just as foods do nothing more because of the b e n e-
dici te and the gratias 3 of the children; for the godless
and the rude folk, who say nobenediciteorgratias,
that is, who neither pray to God nor thank Him, get as fat
and strong from their eating and drinking as do Christians.
Christians can become and remain holy without these things,
if the preaching is done on the street, without a pulpit, if
sins are forgiven, 3 if the Sacrament is administered without
an altar, baptism without a font; and indeed it is of daily
occurrence that, because of peculiar circumstances, sermons
are preached and baptism and the Sacrament administered
in homes. But for the sake of the children and the simple
f oik, it is a fine thing and promotes good order to have a
definite time, place, and hour for these things, so that people
can adapt themselves and meet together, as St. Paul says, in
I Corinthians xiv, "Let all be done in fine order." This i Cor.
order no one ought, and no Christian does, despise without 14: 40
cause, out of mere pride, and only for the sake of creating
disorder ; but for the sake of the multitude everyone ought
to join in observing it, or at least not disturb or hinder it.
That would be to act against love and kindness.
Nevertheless, these things ought to remain free. If from
necessity, or for some other good reason, we cannot preach
at six or seven or twelve or one o'clock, on Sunday or Mon-
day, in the choir or at St. Peter's, then let the preaching be
*He ilthum.
a i
a i.e., The grace which the children say at table.
8 i.e., The absolution pronounced.
296 On the Councils and the Churches
done at other hours, on other days, in other places, so long
as the common people are not disturbed by such a change,
but are carried along in it. For these things are entirely ex-
ternal and, so far as times and places and persons are con-
cerned, they can be regulated altogether by reason and are
completely subject to it. God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost
ask no questions about these things, any more than they ask
about what or where we eat, drink, dress, live, marry, go, or
stay; except as has been said, that no one ought, without
good reason, to take these matters into his own hands and
disturb or hinder the common people. At a wedding or other
social gathering no one ought to annoy the bride or the rest
of the guests by peculiar or disturbing conduct, but rather
behave as the rest do, and sit and walk and stand and dance
and eat and drink with them. It is not possible to place a
special table, kitchen, cellar, and servant at every individual's
disposal. If one needs anything, let him get up from the
table and leave the others to sit there in peace. So in these
matters, too, everything should be done peacefully and in
order and yet it should all be free and subject to change, if
times and persons or other circumstances demand ; then the
crowd follows along harmoniously. For, as has been said,
these things make no Christian either more holy or more
unholy.
To be sure, the pope has scrawled the world full of books
about these things and has made of them bonds, laws, rights,
articles of faith, sin, and holiness, and it would be right to
burn his decrees again in the fire. 1 For this book, which
has done great harm, could well be spared. It has pushed
the Holy Scriptures under the bench and severely suppressed
Christian doctrine; it has brought the jurists also into sub-
jection with their imperial law; thus it has trodden both
Church and emperor under foot, and has given us in their
place the stupid asses of canonists, the will-o'-the-wisps, who
have ruled the Church by it, a and what is more lamentable,
have left the best that is in it and taken out the worst, and
forced that upon the Church. What good there is in it could
1 Luther had burned copies of the Canon Law along with the bull of excom-
munication, Pec 10, 1520.
ft _ a ie n By the Canon Law.
On the Councils and the Churches 297
be had much better in Holy Scripture, nay, in St. Augus-
tine alone, so far as the doctrine o the Church is concerned,
and in the jurists, so far as temporal government is con-
cerned. The jurists themselves once had the intention to
throw this book out of jurisprudence and leave it to the
theologians, but it would be better to throw it in the fire and
reduce it to ashes, though there is some good in it ; for how
could pure evil exist, unless there were some good among
it?^ But there is so much of the evil that it takes the place
which the good ought to have, and (as has been said) the
good is found more richly in the Scriptures, and even in the
fathers, and the jurists. Unless, of course, one were to
keep it in the libraries as an evidence of the folly and the
mistakes of popes and some of the councils and other teach-
ers ! That is what I keep it for.
These outward, free things we should regard as the bap-
tismal shirt or cloth in which a child is wrapped for baptism.
The child is not baptized or made holy by the shirt or cloth,
but by the baptism, and yet reason tells us to wrap it in the
cloth. If the cloth is soiled or torn, we take something else,
and wash the child without the aid of cloth or shirt ; only we
must observe moderation and not take too many shirts or
cloths, so that the child is smothered. Thus in ceremonies
also there should be moderation, so that they do not became
a burden- and a task, but remain so light that they are not
felt, just as at a wedding no one thinks it a burden or a task
to act and conduct himself like other people. Of the special
fasts I shall write again when I write about that plague of
the Germans, gluttony and drunkenness; for this belongs
properly to temporal government.
Of the schools 1 I have written much above and elsewhere,
urging firmness and diligence in caring for them. Although
they may be regarded as a heathen, external thing, because
the boys learn in them the languages and arts, nevertheless
they are highly necessary. If we do not train pupils, we
shall not long have pastors and preachers, as we are finding
out. The school must give the Church persons who can be
made apostles, evangelists, and prophets, that is, preachers,
~"
298 On the Councils and the Churches
pastors, rulers, beside the other kinds of people that are
needed throughout the world, who are to become chancelors,
councillors, secretaries, and the like, and who help with
worldly government. Moreover, if the school-master is a
god-fearing man and teaches the boys to understand, to sing
and to practice God's Word and the true faith, and holds
them to Christian discipline, then (as was said above) the
schools are young and everlasting councils, which do more
good than many great councils. Therefore the former em-
perors, kings and princes did well when, with such diligence,
they built so many schools, high and low, cloisters and en-
dowed houses, because they wanted to provide the Church
with a rich and great supply of persons; but their descen-
dants have shamefully perverted and misused them. There-
fore princes and lords ought now to do as their predecessors
did, and turn the possessions of the cloisters over to the
schools and endow many persons with means to study. Even
though our descendants abuse them, we have done our part
in our time.
In a word, the school mu&t be the next thing to the Church,
The for it is the place where young pastors and preachers are
Family trained and out of which they are drawn to put in the places
* tk 086 w ^ ^ e - Next to the school comes the burgher's
house, out of which pupils are got. After them come the
town-hall and the castle, which must protect the burghers,
so that they produce children for the schools, and the schools,
so that they train children to be pastors, and then the pastors
can, in turn, make churches and children of God, whether
the people be burghers, princes, or emperors. God, however,
must be over all and nearest of all, to preserve this ring, or
circle, against the devil, and to do all, in all classes, nay, in
PS. all creatures. Psalm cxxvii says that there are on earth only
127:1 two bodily governments, the city and the house. It says,
"Except the Lord build the house," and again, "Except the
Lord keep the city." The first government is that of the
house, out of which come people. The second is the ruling
of the city, that is, lands, people, princes, and lords, which
we call worldly government. There everything is given,
children, property, money, beasts, etc. The house must build
On the Councils and the Churches 299
this ; the city must guard, protect, and defend it. Then comes
the third thing, God's own house and city, that is, the Church,
which must have people from the house and protection and
defense from the city.
These are the three hierarchies ordained by God, and we
need no more ; indeed we have enough and more than enough
to do in living aright and resisting the devil in these three,
Look only at the house and see what is to do there. There
are parents and house-rulers to obey ; there are children and
servants to support, train, govern, and care for in a godly
way. We would have enough to do to keep the law of the
home, even if there were nothing else to do. Then the city,
that is, the worldly government, also gives us enough to do,
if we are, on the one hand, to be faithful in our obedience
and, on the other, to judge, protect, and further the good of
our subjects, lands and people. The devil keeps us busy
enough, and with him God has given us the sweat of our Gen.
brows and plenty of thorns and thistles, so that in these two 3:18
kinds of law 1 we have a rich abundance of things to learn,
to^live, to do, and to endure. Then there is, after these, the
third kind of law and government. If the Holy Ghost rules,
Christ calls it a comfortable, sweet, easy burden ; if not, it
is not only heavy, sour, and terrible, but it is also impossible, Matt
as Paul calls it in Romans viii, Impossible legis, 3 11:3
.
and says in another place, "The letter killeth." j^J
Now why should we have, over and above these three 3:6
divine governments, these three divine, natural, temporal
laws, the blasphemous, pretended law or government of the
pope? It would be everything, yet it is nothing. On the
contrary, it leads us astray and tears us away from these
blessed, divine estates and laws. Instead it puts a mask or
cowl upon us and makes us the devil's fools and puppets,
who live in idleness and no longer know these three divine
hierarchies or laws. Therefore we will endure it no longer,
but act according to the teaching of Sts. Peter and Paul and
Augustine, and turn against them the second Psalm, "Let us
tear their bands asunder and cast away their cords from Ps * 2 ' 2
1 Le., The law of the home and the law of the State.
a "That which is impossible to the law."
300 On the Councils and the Churches
Gal, 1:8 us." Nay, we will sing with St. Paul, "He that teacheth
otherwise, even though he were an angel from heaven, let
him be accursed!" We will say with St. Peter, "Why do ye
tempt God by the imposing of such a burden?" Thus we
will again be lords of the pope and tread him under foot, as
p 8 . Psalm xci says, "Thou shalt tread upon the adder and basi-
91:13 lisk, and the lion and dragon shalt thou trample tinder foot."
Gen. This we will do by the power and help of the woman's Seed,
3:15 Who hath trodden and still treads upon the serpent's head,
even though we must take the risk that he will bite us in the
heel. To that blessed Seed of the woman be praise and
honor, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true God,
forever. Amen.
INDEX
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
INDEX
ABBOT, 227, 246, 247
Abraham, 20
Adam's plague, see Original sin
adiaphora, 187, 250, 251, 257, 295
advetia, 214
adviee, see Evangelical counsel
acquit as, see Justice
Agnus dei, 289, 290
agriculturam (Agriculture), one of the two divisions of the work of
men, 66, 69. See also militiam
Agriculture and the Turk, 99
Alexander, Bishop, 176
Alexander, Emperor, 45
Allah, 101 .
Altar, Sacrament of the, see Sacrament of the Altar
Anabaptists (Donatists), 97, 166, 167, 186
Anastasius, 214f
Anchorite, 160^
Angelic salutation, see Ave Maria
Angels, Intercession of, 10
annates f 83
Annunciation, Feast of the, 184
Antichrist, 26, 98, 115, 134
Antinomians, 233f, 265, 268f
Antioch, Church at, 208, 211, 212
antilogiae, 175
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, 236
Apostles, The, 150, 151
Apostolic Canons, The, 166
Archimandrite, see Abbot
Arians (Arianism), 97, 165, 177f, 201, 237f, 240
Aristotle, 13
Arius, 176f, 199f, 201, 203f, 206f, 215
Articles of Faith, 178f, 181, 187, 188, 211f, 225, 234, 241, 243, 256,
257, 269, 282
Articles of Government, 51
Augsburg Confession, 127
Augustus, Emperor, 198
Aurogallus, Matthew, 14 and note 5
autocatacrites (Self -condemned men), 134
Auxentius, Bishop, 200
Ave Maria, 16 f
BAN, 274
Banner, the Emperor's, 108
303
Vol. V 20
304 Index
Baptism, 144, 159, 290, 292, 295
A mark of the Church, 272
Apostolic Canon on, 166
Baptismal shirt or cloth, 297
by heretics, 165
Council at Constance letter to Damascus concerning, 213
denned by Luther, 272
St. Cyprian and rebaptism, 165
Battle, cries, 67, 86
Bible, Luther's German, 9
Bigamy, 278ff
Billiffkeit, see Justice
Bishop (s)
"Bridegroom" of the Church, 281f
Endowments of, 138
Luther's definition of " bishop, " 205
Pope condemns marriage of, 278
true duty, 98
Worldly lords, 98
Bishop of Rome, see Pope
Boniface I, Pope, 210
Bull, Papal,
Exsurge doming 77
CALENDAR, Correction of the, 182
Candlemas (Presentation of our Lord), 184
Canon law, 168, 278, 279, 281, 282, 283, 296f. See Gratian
Carthusians, 247, 249
Cassiodorus' Historic, tripartite, 129
Celibacy, 164, 278
Chalcedon, Council at, 145
Called by emperor, 226
Dealt with doctrine that Christ has two natures, 172
Established no new articles of faith, 239
Eutyches' doctrine, 227
Eutyches' error, 228f
Reason for council uncertain, 226f
treatment of Eutyches, 239
Ceremonies, see Rites and ceremonies
Charles, Emperor, 58, 77, 88, 117, 118, 119, 128, 248
Children,
Children's creed, 226, 252, 264. See Apostles' Creed
Education of, 105
Christ
able to protect and maintain His Christendom, 132
Anastasius' teaching concerning, 214
Antinomians and, 234f
Anus' teaching concerning, 178, 201
died for His Church, 134
Distinction between Nestorian heresy and Eutychian, 22Sf, 237f
Eutyches' doctrine concerning, 227f
has abolished the ancient law, 184
His Kingdom, 227
His Second Coming, 118, 123
Index 305
His " work " as related to war, 84
Nestorius' teaching concerning, 214f, 216f
Pope and his would destroy to keep their power, 134
Reformation of Church must come from, 133
revealed through Holy Scriptures, 179
The true Christology, 222f
Turk Christ's enemy,, 93, 95
Two things which injure, 93
Christendom, 87 (Cf. "Sir Christian"), see The Church
Christian II, King of Denmark, 45, 51, 53
Christian Faith persecuted, 93
Christian (s), 59
are free lords over days and externals, 187
Can a be a soldier, 34f
How fight against the Turk, 102
must not assume another office, 85
must not fight as Christians, 83
must pray that faith of Turk be overcome, 95
shall not make war, 87
Should go to war, 38f
should not rebel against overlord or government, 44
strive to keep God's commandments, 140f
Under pressure of Turk some lapse, 93
Who are the ? where found, 89
Christmas, 184
Christology, Luther's, 222f
Church, Marks of
Feigned marks, 289
Holy Cross or suffering, 286
It has God's Word, therefore holy, 270
Other marks, 287f
Prayer, 285f
Seven "sacraments" or means of Christian sanctification, 287,
cf . 288
The external Word, 271
The Ministry, 275f
The Power of the Keys, 274f
The Sacrament of Baptism, 272
The Sacrament of the Altar, 273f
Church, The
Abuses in, 138
Anathema of, 253
Bride of Christ, 279ff
Christ and His Church a sacrament, 285
Communion of Saints, 227
Explanation of the word ecclesia, 101, 264ff, 292
"Goods" of, 87
Holy Scriptures, the law and rule of, 253, 254
Holy Spirit's work in, 267f
Luther asserts he and his are, 136
Marks of (which seej, 129f, 270ff, 292
Means of Grace, 292f, 294
not made holy by external customs and rites, 295
one of the three divinely founded hierarchies, 298, 299
306 Index
Other designations of, 265
Pastors and schoolmasters finest jewels, 255
Pope and his are worst enemies, 134, 136
Pope and his assert they are, 135
Reformation of according to fathers and councils, 137f
Schools needed by, 297
The real enemies which should fight, 87
Two attitudes toward reformation of, 139, 142
What is, 129, 264, 270ff, 289
Where the Word is preached, believed, confessed there is, 271
Church, The Roman, 25
Canonists rule, 296
Holiness of, 269
not the Christian Church, 266f
Pope and bishops " bridegrooms " of, 281
Pope and his assert they are the Church, 135
Teaching of the, 26
See, Pope
Circumcision, 188ff
Cistercians, 247
Classes, Social, see, Equals, Inferiors, Superiors
Clement VII, 87, 127
Clergy
cause of defeats in Turkish wars, 86
Real duties of, 86
should support temporal rulers, 82
Supremacy over worldly rulers, 82
Their assumption of worldly offices, 85
Their temporal wealth and lordship, 87
Their true calling, 84
Cochlaeus, Johannes, 14 note 2, 272
coessentialis, 202
coexist ewtialiSj 202
Commandments, The Ten, 140, 191, 195, 252, 266, 267, 268, 285
First, 24
Sixth, 153
First Table, 267, 269, 287, 288
Second Tabk, 268, 269, 287, 288
Common man, 105
"Common person," 64
Communicatio idiomatum, 220f , 228ff, 237, 238, 239
Distinction between the Nestorian and Eutychian errors, 228f
Conscience
Citizen's as related to worldly rulers, 50, 53
Soldier's life related to, 32f
consilia (counsels), 116
Constance, Council at, 241
Constantia, 175, 199
Constantine, Emperor, 146, 162, 175ff, 180, 182, 199, 204
Constantinople, Church at, 208, 209f
Constantinople, Council at, 145, 150, 206fT
Bishop Damasus and the, 207f, 211
deals with the doctrine, that the Holy Ghost is God, 172, 211
Episcopal appointments made by, 208ff, 211
Index 307
Three things done by, 211
When held and reason for, 206
Constantius, Emperor, 199
consubstantialis, 202
"Council" (term), 147, 151, 154, 174
Council, A General
asked for by Luther, emperor and others, 131
desired, 127
(called, 127; postponed, 128)
Four conditions under which Protestants would enter a free, 128
Needs for according to Luther, 258f
prejudiced even before convening, 131, 133
repeatedly postponed, 127ff, 131, 135
to be calkd by the monarch, not by the bishops, 146
What must do, 250
will not reform the Church, 133
Council, Apostolic, 150ff, 188
directed by the Holy Ghost, 150, 151
Its ordinance cannot fall of itself, 153
James vs. Peter, 193ff, 197
Neither Church nor pope can alter its ordinance, 152
Reason for this, 188ff
With what this dealt, ISOff '
Council (Councils)
A consistory or court, 253
and pastors and schoolmasters, 255
and the Diet, 254
cannot help to the reformation of the Church, 142
contradict each other, 143
deal with matters of faith under special need, 257
of Trent, 127
Decrees of true must remain forever, 192
Four Ecumenical Councils called by emperors, 226
Four Ecumenical Councils did not establish any new article of
faith, 241
have no power to establish new good works or articles of
faith, 212
Offices of pastor and schoolmaster compared with power of, 252
Reform of XV Century, 127
St. Gregory's opinion of, 240
True purpose and duty of, 178f, 206, 212, 215, 242, 256
Universal councils compared to four Gospels by Roman bishops,
145, 241
What is a, 243
What is a work, 243 . .
Has no power to establish a new article of faith, 243
Has power and must condemn new article of faith according
to Holy Scriptures, 243f
Has no power to order new good work, 244
Has power to condemn wicked works, 244
Has no power to impose new ceremonies, 250
Has power to condemn them, 250
Has no power to interfere in worldly law and government,
250f
308 * Index
Has power to condemn such attempts, 250f
Has no power to ordain tyrannous ecclesiastical statutes
bound to condemn them, 251
Has power to ordain certain ceremonies, 251
(See, Council, A General)
Councils, Ecumenical, 129
Apostolic, ISOff, 188, 243
Chalcedon, 145, 226ff, 241, 261
Constantinople, 145, 150, 206ff, 215, 241, 261
, Ephesus, 145, 213ff, 241, 261
f Nicaea, 145, 150, 155, 175ff, 215, 218, 240, 241, 261
(Which see)
Councilmen, 105
Courage, 57
Crabbe, Concilia omnia, 129, 137
Creed, The, 26
Apostles', 73, 89, 226, 227, 234, 252, 264
Athanasian, 155
Children's, see Apostles' Creed
Nicene, 201, 204
cruciaty (Preaching of crusades), 104
crimen laesae majestatis >(Kigh treason), 41, 52, 71
Crusading taxes, 104
Customs, see Rites and ceremonies
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, 208, 215
DAHLBERG, Johann von, Bishop, 249
Damasus, Bishop, 202f, 207, 213
Danes, 45, 46, 51 f
Daniel, The Prophet, 18
Decretum, Gratian's, 143, 170
Devil, The
and the Church, 289
ceremonies intended to supplant God's Word and Sacraments,
291, 292, 293
His, the easier way, 291 f
Names, 291
The Cloak puts on, 100
the Turks' God, 89
through the pope institutes sacramental rites, etc., 289, 290
Dialectics, 13
Dienstgeld, 65
Dies dominica, see Lord's Day
Diets, The, 254
Dionysius of Alexandria, 166
Dionysius of Syracuse, 49
Dominicans, 236
Donatists, see Anabaptists
EASTER
A movable festival, 182f
Controversy at Nicaea over date of, 181
On keeping, 186
Settlement of < date controversy, 182
Index 309
ccclesfo, 101, 264ff, 292
Eck, 129, 272
Eloha, 101. See Allah
Emperor
and his overlord, God, 64
and his subjects, 64, 66, 103
Empire given to by God, 106
His duty to wage the war against the Turk, 102f , 108
How he is to wage war against the Turk, 103, 109
Not head of Christendom or protector of Gospel, 103, 104
Obedience to is obedience to God, 103
should be exhorted concerning his office, 104
" The second man, " 109
Wrong and right views of responsibility, 106f, 109
Emser, Jerome, 12 note 1, 272
Ephesus, Council at, 145, 213ff
Deals with the doctrine that Christ is not two persons but one, 172
Defended the old faith, 225
Nestorius condemned by, 215
Reason for the, 214f
summoned by emperor not by pope, 213
Theotokos, 224
episcopus, see Bishop
Equals, 42, 56
cqultcs, 159
epieikeia, see Justice
Ernst, Duke of Brunswick-Liineberg, 31
Eunuchs, 164
Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, 129
Eusebius of Nicomedia, 201, 204, 207
Eustathius, Bishop, 177
Eutyches
an abbot, 227, 246
condemned at Chalcedon, 235, 256
Distinction between his error and Nestorius', 237
doctrine concernnig Christ, 227f
error, 228rT
heresy opposed to Nestor ian, 237
Evangelical counsel, 82
Expletives, 55
Exsurge domine (Papal bull), 77, 81
FABER, Johannes, 14 note 1
Faith, 73, 197, 256
Faith alone, " 20f, 22
Faith and Works, 20f
Faith, Justification by, 9, 20ff, 230, 231, 233
Family, The, 298, 299
Fanatics, 97
Fathers, The
and the Holy Scriptures, 170ff
contradict each other, 143, 168
Writings of cannot help to reform Church, 142
Ferdinand of Austria, 77, 121
310 Index
festa mobitia (Movable feasts), 182
Feste Coburg, 9
Festivals
Fixed, 184, 185
Movable, 182f
Keeping free to Christians, 187
Feudal
Dues, 65
Holdings, 65
Rights, 65
Fibelists, 140
Fiefs, 65, 66
" First Man, " see " Sir Christian "
Flavian, Bishop of Antioch, 208
Fornication, 194, 198
Fortune, 62
fraus (trickery), 43
Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 57f, 82
GABRIEL, 16f
Galba, 45
Gangra, Council at, 246, 257
George, Duke of Saxony, 12 and note 2
German (language), 10, 15 f
Germans, 41, 66, 297
Gerson, John, 249
Gloss, glosses, 20, 142
God
All rulership comes to, 64
and His command to make war, 63
and Government, 43, 36f, 38f, 56
and rulers, 48, 49. 52, 54
and vengeance, 46, 59
and war, 58f
His help in national need, 109
His tolerance, 135
His use of the Turk, 88
His ways of helping a land, 111
His Word, 92
His wrath, 89, 135
Priests' method of serving, 81
When will abolish all rulership, 64
working through His Church, 292
Good works
Distinction between Luther and papists on, 23 If
false, see Wicked works
new, 244, 256
Gordian, Emperor, 45
Government, 35, 36, 38, 39, 43, 56, 81, 95, 298, 299
Grace, 189ff
Grandiomontensians, 247
Gratian, see Deere turn
Gratian, Emperor, 145, 146, 159, 206
Index 311
Gravamina of the German Nation. 127
Greed, 69, 70
Greeks, 43, 46
HANNIBAL, 57, 62
Hausmann, Nicholas, 77
Henry, III, IV, V, Emperors, 247
Heretics, 135, 144
Hermit, 160
Hierarchies, The Three Divinely Ordained, 299
Hilten, John, 236
Holiness
Christian, 267, 268
Churchly and conciliar, 141 f
Seven " sacraments " or means of Christian, 287
The new, 244, 248, 249, 250
Holy Cross, The, see Suffering
Holy Spirit
and the Apostolic Council, 150
and the Church, 265, 270
and the Council at Constance, 211
and the Holy Scriptures, 171
and the Ministry, 276
Articles of faith must be revealed by, 179
cannot contradict Himself, 153
Councils which establish new articles of faith are without, 242
His warning, 170
Holiness a work of, 267
Logic of, 259
Macedonian teaching concerning, 206
Mass of, 123
Names of, 267
Pope pretends to have power to alter an ordinance of, 152
Power of the Keys and, 274
rules all councils, 162, 243
sanctifies Christians, 268, 287, 288, 299
sanctifies the Church with the Word, 270, 285
teaches good works in Scriptures, 244
Holy Kings, Day of the, (Epiphany), 184
Holy water, 290
homoousios, 202, 203
Hosius, Bishop, 176
Hus, John, 261
ICONIUM, Council of, 166
Illustrations
Chopping above one's head, the chips fall in one's eyes, 64
Running out of the rain and falling in the water, 214
The beggar full of wounds, 50
The dog who bites the spikes, 47
The woman who prayed for the tyrants, 49
Indulgences, 25, 83, 104, 120, 241
Inferiors, 42f, 51f, 53, 54, 56, 63f, 65
Inquisitors, 236
312 Index
Intercession of saints, see Saints, Intercession of
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, 182
ish hamud&th, 19
JACOBUS of Nisibis, 177
Jerusalem, Bishop of, 180, 211
Jerusalem, Church at, 209, 211, 212
Jerusalem, Council at, see Council, The Apostolic
John, Bishop of Antioch, 215
Jovinian, Emperor, 159
Judas-kiss, 41, 200
Julian, Cardinal, 86
Julian, Emperor, 162
Julius, Pope (II), 87
Justice, 42
Justification by faith, see Faith, Justification by
Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, 215
KECHARITOMENE, 17f
Keys, The Power (Office) of the, 174, 274f, 292
Koran, The, 94, 95, 98, 99, 101, 115
Kram, Assa von, 31, 32, 74
LAESAE MAJESTATIS DIVINAE, see criwen laesae majestatis
Lcmdsknechts, 72
Lassla, King, 86
Last Day, The, 135, 185, 237
Law
and equity, 40f, 41
and justice, 42
Just and necessary exceptions to, 40
Mosaic, 188f, 190f, 193ff, 199
Papal, 26
Letter, Dominical or Sunday, 184
Legate, Papal, 106f
Leo, Pope (X), 81, 85, 227
Lewis of Hungary, 120
Liberty in allegiance, 112
Licinius, 175
Lies, 99, 100
Link, Wenzel, 9
Litany, The, 91
Logic, 258f , 259
Lombard, Peter, 169, 173, 225, 236
Lord's Day, 184
Lord's Prayer, 26, 73, 227, 252, 285, 286, 289
Lords, see Princes
Love, 197, 244
Lucius, Arlan bishop, 97
Ludwig, King, 86
Luther
a good conciliarist, 158
accused by hierarchy as being seditious, 98
accused of flattering ruling class, 82
Index 313
accused of sedition, 82
and his sympathizers heretics, 135
and the Easter date, 182ff
as revealed by his writing " On the Councils, etc., " 129
asserts he and his are the Church, 136
case discussed by emperor and princes, 106
claims he knows the writings of the fathers at first hand, 142
desired to present his cause before a general council, 131
education and training in dialectics and philosophy, 13
gladly contradicts his former ways, 205
His busy life, 139
His Christplogy, 129, 222
His definition of episcopus, 205
His doctrine of non-resistence, 82f
His doctrine of the Church, 129
His folly, 231
His knowledge of the Church's past history, 129
His lectures on the Holy Scriptures, 142
Pope's purpose in condemning doctrine of non-resistance, 83
ready to yield to right or to persist for sake of the
Church, 139
reasons for need of a council, 258
review of Nestor ian error, 216ff
reviews teaching of Antinomians, 233ff
states the need of a general council, 136
suggests a provincial council, 262
The works and his strive to do, 140ff
Turk and instrument in proving doctrine against the pope, 85
villified by enemies, 92
Luther's Writings
Explanation of the Eighty-second Psalm, 78
Herrpredigt wider den Turkey 77
Ninety-five Theses, 77
On Justification, 23
On Temporal Government, 35, 39, ,74, 78, 82, 85
Open Letter to the Christian Nobility, 127
The Papacy at Rome, 129
Lyra, Nicholas of, 289
MACEDONIANS, 206, 240
Macedonius, 215, 240
Bishop of Constantinople, 207
Condemned by Council at Constantinople, 211
Teaching of, 206
Magister sententiarum, see Lombard, Peter
Manichaeism, 205, 223
Manngeld, 65
Marcian, Emperor, 146, 226
Margaret of Austria. 248
Marriage, 99, 100, 279ff, 296
Mary, The Virgin, 16ff
Anastasius' and Nestorius' teaching concerning, 214fl
Mohammed's teaching concerning, 94f
Thotokos, 224
314 Index
Mass of the Holy Spirit, 123
Maurice, Emperor, 210
Maximilian, Emperor, 47, 54, 87
Means of Grace, 292. See Church, Holy Spirit
Melanchthon, Philip, 14
milites, 159
militia, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162
militiam, one of the two divisions of the work of men, 66. See
agricultwram
Ministry, The, 275f
A mark of the Church, 275f
and celibacy, 278
and woman, 276
Orders in, 276f
Schools needed to furnish to the Church, 297f
Mob, The, 45, 50, 53
Mohacz, Battle of, 120 note 2
Mohammed
A product of Arianism, 206
Destroyer of Christ and His Kingdom, 94f
His doctrines, a composite, 206
His teaching, 94f, 115
monachos (solitarius) , 160
Monastery, 246f
Monasticism, 159f, 245f
Monk, 160
Mother of God, see, Mary, The Virgin
Miintzer, Thomas, 59, 97, 101, 292
Murder, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100
Murderer, 96, 97, 98, 106
NATURE (Human), sinful, 24
Nazarites, 95
Nectarius, )Bishop of Constantinople, 208, 211
Nestorianism, Modern, 224f
Nestorius, 214f, 240
Condemned by Council at Ephesus, 215, 256
His error, 216f, 220ff, 228f
His false logic, 232
His heresy as opposed to Eutychianism, 237f
His real fault, 217ff, 256
His teaching concerning the Virgin, 214f
New Testament, Luther's
A pure German one of Us objectives, 14, 15
Difficulties in translating, 14, IS, 16
Eraser's New Testament translation compared with L's, 12
Eraser's plagiarisms, 12
influence on the German language, 10, 11, 15
L's translation interdicted by authority, 12
No one compelled to read, 11
The translation must be intelligible to the common man, 15
Translated according to Us conscience, 11
New Year, 184
Index 315
Niczea, Council at, 145, 150, ISSff, 17Sff, 199, 204, 211
Called by Constantine, 146, 176f
Condemned Arius, 178, 201ff
Consideration of external matters, government of Church, etc.,
loOf, loo
Controversy over the date of Easter, 181ff
Deals with doctrine that Christ is true God, 172, 178, 188, 206
Drvised nor established nothing new, 206
History of, 176ff
Its decrees, ISSff
Celibacy . . eunuchs, 164
P-enance and purgatory, 156
Rebaptism of heretics, 166, 188
Suburbicarian churches, 163
Those who go to war, 156
War forbidden, 157
Reason for the, 175ff, 206
Nimrod, 96
Nobles, 54f, 65, 66. See Superiors, Inferiors, Princes
Nuremberg, Diet at, 127
OATH, 112
Occupation
Distinction between and man in it, 34
Of a judge, 34
Of a soldier, 34
The married estate, 34
Order, Ecclesiastical good, 251
Original sin, 203
PALLIA, 83
Papists
Cannot translate without using Us translation, 11
Dare not be judges of L's translation, 11
Ease with which they obey commandments and added works of
holiness, 139ff, 141
Lack ability to translate well, 10
Luther compares himself with, 13
Practices of, 137f, 204f
Pretend to teach like L, 204f
Profited linguistically through L's translation, 10
Self -condemned, 134
Pastor, 89, 92, 252, 25S
Paul III, 127
Paulianists (Photinians), 166
Pavia, Battle of, 58, 86, 117
Peace, 36, 57
Peace of Nuremberg, 128
Peasants' Rebellion, 40, 44, 48, 55, 79, 119
Pelagians, 203
Pelagius, 237
Pen, 105
Penance, 156
Penitential practices, 92
316 , Index
Perjury, 112
Persians, 46
Pertinax, 45
Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, 79
Phocas, Emperor, 210
Photmians, see Paulianists
Pilgrimage, 25
Platma's Historia d^ vitis pontificium, 129
Plautus, 266
Poramer, Doctor (Bugenhagen), 170
Pope (Bishop of Rome)
always seeking after power, 146f
and bishops called bridegrooms of the Church, 281
and Christ's words to Peter, 174
and his followers self-condemned, 134
and marriage of clergy, 278f
and the churches at Antioch and Jerusalem, 208f
and the council, 131
and the Council at Constance, 241
and the Turk, 115
and civil power, 82
claims to be supreme head and lord of all churches, 163
claims to be the Church, 192, 264
claims to primacy, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211
compared with Mohammed, 116
considers himself above councils and fathers, 138, 152
Council at Constance and the, 207f
Dignity of equal to Alexandria but beneath Jerusalem, 211
Example of perversion of Christ's word by, 82
has fallen away from the Gospel and embraced his own
human doctrine, 98
His holiness, 269
His historians uncertain and obscure, 228
His instituted rites and ceremonies, 289, 290, 296
His keys, 275
His "Koran" (Decretals), 116, 117
His principal business, 98
His true calling, 84
Hypocrisy of, 101
is Antichrist, 98
Methods of extortion practiced by, 83
not much better than Mohammed, 116
not personally present but represented at Council at
Nioea, 177
Oppression and unfaithfulness of, 258
Power acquired by, 147
Practices of, 137f
pretended to make war against Turk, 82, 83
proposes making war against Turk under Name of Christ, 83
purpose in con<3emning Us doctrine, 83
Reforms and council must make, 260
Suburbicarian churches, 163
Testimony of and followers uncertain, 226f
Those who do not yield to heretics, 135
Index 317
Tricky conduct and high-handed methods of, 131, 132, 135
War cry of - soldiers, 101
will not reform the Church, 133, 138
Prayer, 90f, 285f '
against the Turk, 92
Examples of, 91f
Preacher, 68, 89, 92, 112, 114
Preaching, Purpose of, 89, 112
Priest, 137f
Princes, 53f
and Christianity, 60
and their overlord, 64
and their subjects, 64, 66
assumption of spiritual offices, 85
duty to protect their people, 59, 60
false, monk- forced worship of God, 81
hold their authority from God, 106
Right and wrong views of responsibility, 106f, 109
self-willed, 60
should be exhorted concerning their civil office, 104
Wise, 60
Probus, 203
Processions, 91
Protestantism, 127
Proverbs
A load of hay must make way for a drunken man, 196
A prince is a rare bird in heaven, 60
AHquando cpmpugmtntur et mali
(Sometimes even the wicked are defeated), 200
He who builds along the road has many masters, 11
He who strikes back is wrong, 46
I have verily heard that he who smites is smitten, 59
If one thing is true, the other must be ; if the second is not true,
neither is the first, 221
Inventa Icge, inventa est fraus legis
(When a law starts, Mistress Fraud is soon on hand), 43
I ve known for seven years that horseshoe nails are iron, 13
Lifting the plate and breaking the dish, 114
No one has ever been so bad, that someone is not worse, 56
No one shall be his own judge, 46
Running out of the rain and falling into the water, 114
Sic volo, sic jubeo, sic pro ratione vohmtas, 47
The road runs past the door, 284
Psalms, The, 285
Purgatory, 156
Purity, 283
BUARREL, A Greek, 219
uictonque vufo (Athanasian Creed), 155
REASON, 95
Rebaptism, 165
Reformed Regular Canons (Augustinian), 247
Relics, 287
318 Index
Religion (The Christian Faith), 156, 159, 160, 161, 162
Repentance, 89, 90
Revolution, 43f
Rhodes, 85
Righteousness, 34
Rites and ceremonies, 251, 257. See adwphora
Moderation needed, 297
not instituted by God, 295
Papal, 289f, 292
Papal law and, 296
serve good order, 295
should be free, 295f
useful and necessary, 295
What they are, 295, 297
Robbery, 96, 99
Roman Empire, 118
Romans, 43f, 45, 46, 57, 62
Rome, 58
Romulus and Remus, 210
Ruler
Christians should pray God for, 46
Crazy should be deposed, 44
Evil actions of are his condemnation, 47
God has ordained, 48, 52, 72
God's punishment of evil, 49
must govern according to laws, 51
Punishment of wicked, 48
See Tyrant, Superiors, Princes, Inferiors
SABBATARIANS, 151
Sacrament of the Altar, The, 26, 144f, 273f, 292, 295
Sacraments, see Baptism, Marriage, Sacrament of the Altar
Saint Ambrose, 22, 142, 200, 214
Anthony, 160, 162, 245
Athanasius, 179, 203, 204
Augustine, 22, 82, 96, 97, 142, 144, 145, 147, 149, 165, 166, 167,
171, 173, 199, 205, 206, 214, 225, 237, 245, 249, 250, 252, 258f,
272, 282, 297
Basil, 199
Bernard, 143, 246, 247
Bonaventura, 246
Catherine, 185
Cornelius, 165
Cyprian, 16Sf, 173
Eusebius of Gesarea, 214
Francis, 248
Gregory Nazianzus, 199, 240
Hilary, 173, 174, 179, 200, 203, 214
James, 192, 193f, 19Sff, 197f
James of Compostella, 294
Jerome, 11, 142, 147ff, 172, 173, 202, 214, 240, 245, 282
John, the Apostle, 185, 281
John Baptist, 184
John Chrysostom, 142, 173, 214
Index 319
John the Hermit, 245
Luke, the Evangelist, 17
Martin of Tours, 185, 214
Maurice, 157, 159
Michael, 185
Paphnutius, 164, 177, 181, 246
Paul, the Apostle, 185, 208, 250, 258, 259, 281, 285
Peter, the Apostle, 159, 185, 188ff, 208, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262
and St. James, 193f, 197
His sermon, 188ff
Polycarp, 182
Saints' Days, 185
Saints, Intercession of, 9, 10, 23
Condemned, 24
No scriptural authority for, 23f
Roman teaching concerning, 23
Teach to avoid, 24
Saints, Worship of, 24
contrary to First Commandment, 24
draws away from worship of Christ, 24
Luther accustomed to but condemns it, 24
Salvation, 93
Satan, see Devil
Schmid, Johan Faber, 272
School-teacher, 252, 255
Schools, 105, 255, 297f, 299
Schwarzenberg,. Hans von, 261
Scriptures, Holy
and the Holy Spirit, 171
are the law of the Holy Church, 253
Augustine's statement concerning, 148f
Canon law, ceremonies and, 296f
Christ revealed through, 179
Faith grounded on, 179
Luther lectured on, 142
made and preserved the Church, 172
must remain master and judge, 143
Self-defense, 58, 59
Simony, 241
" Sir Christian " (Luther's term for the " pious, dear body of Chris*
tians"), 58, 88f, 101, 110, 117, 122
Sbttus, Pope, 166
Smalcald Articles, 127, 128
For what intended, 128
Luther author of, 128
Signers of, 128
When published, 128
Smalcald League, 128
sola, svlum, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20
Soldier
A truly believing wellnigh unconquerable, 74
Abuses of office, 37
Blasphemy of, 72
Business of soldiering, 159
Vol. V 21
320 Index
Can a Christian be a, 34f
Can a be a Christian, 156
Can a fight for more than one prince, 69
Careless, 62
Correct appreciation of office, 36
God evidently approves office, 66f
Good humble toward God, bold toward enemy, 62
has a right to his pay, 66
John Baptist and, 37f, 66
occupation right and godly, 34f, 38, 40
Paid soldiers not condemned by Christ, 161
punishes the wicked, protects the good, 36
Shall a hire himself for pay, 65
Should a fight for a wrong cause, 68
Should a fight to gain temporal honor, 70
Superstitions of, 72f
The mercenary, 67, 72
The professional, 57
The commendation before entering battle, 73
Where find pious, 110
Who is to be a, 40
Speyer, Diet of, 123
Spires, Second Diet of, 77
Spirit of Iks, 98
Spiritual songs, 285, 286
Staupitz, 249
Suffering of the Church, 286, 287
Subjects
defy God's command when they judge their rulers, 46
Faithless, 112f
Obligations of to overlord, 65
Sunday, see Lord's Day
Superiors, 42f, 63f
Swiss, 45, 46
Sword, The, see Temporal Government
Sword, The Duty of the, 56, 59, 64
Sylvester, Pope, 146, 177
TARTARS, 46
Terence, 40
Theodosius I, Emperor, 145, 146, 159, 206, 207, 213
Theodosius II, Emperor, 146, 213, 214
Theognis, Bishop, 207
Theotokos, see Mary, The Virgin
Translating
Difficulties in adequately, 15ff
Difficulties in rendering an expression in one language in
another, 16ff
Literal meaning in, 19
Luther conscientious in, 18
Luther's purpose in, 18f
Not every one can practice this art, 19
Repayment for, 19
Index 321
Translator
A good, 11
must have a fine command of language, 18
Such as cannot be faithful, 19
Treason, 112. See crimen laesae majestatis
Trent, Council of, 127
Turk, The
a formidable enemy, 120
a papist: saved by works, 101
an enemy of government, 95 f
an enemy of true marriage, 99
and the pope, 115
Chief doctrine of the faith of, 95
Conquest of Constantinople and Greece by, 119
does not permit freedom of faith and worship to Christians,
93, 100
God is using to punish the world, 88, 96
government destructive not protective, 96, 101
His god, the devil, must be beaten, 89
His lands, 121
His war cry, 101
holds Mohammed higher than Christ, 94
Invasion of, 77, 79
is the devil, 98
likes warlike pursuits better than peaceful ones, 99
practices polygamy, 99
Some Germans would like to rule them, 11 Iff
Some things teaches, 115
Success of faith due to God's wrath, 97
the devil's servant, 89f, 93
The Ottoman Turk's supremacy, 120 and note 3
Virtues of, 100
War against undertaken as Christian act, 83
Wicked life of, 93
will not tolerate pictures or images, 101
Turk, War against the
Diets held on account of, 85
How rightly to make, 88
Luther accused of opposing, 81
must be begun with repentance, 89
must be carried on by " Sir Christian, 88f , 102
must be waged by the emperor, 102
not to bt incited by false ideals, 103f
Prayer nauat precede, 90
requires thoroughgoing preparation and great reserves, 120f
Til* pope jjaad, 83
Tyrumfcadw, 43
Tyt**t, 43, 44f, 47
USELESS PEOPLE, 66
VALENS, Emperor, 247 note 7
VAlcntaateu Emperor, 159^ 24?
Vergerius, Paul* 12R
322 Index
Vices, Papal, 116
Victor, Pope, 182
Virgil, 266
Virtues, Three Theological, 267
WAR
Distinction between different kinds of, 59
False confidence in ; example of, 61 f
forbidden by the Council at >ficsea, 156f
God and, 58
God hates those who begin, 57
He who starts war is wrongr, 56
is not right, 59
Just war, 38
Justification of, 36
justified in Scriptures, 37f
must be fought in the fear of God, 61
Old Testament instances of unjust, 58
Persons affected by, 42f
Those who begin unnecessarily always punished, 37
Three kinds of people who may make, 42f
What is, 35
Watch-words, 67
Wealth, Temporal, 68
Wesel, John, 236
Wetzel, George, 272
Word, The, 270f , 285, 289, 290, 292, 294
Power of, 271ff, 290
The preached, 271
Work of men, 66
Works, 189ff
Good, 9, 20
Meritorious, 294
Necessary and unnecessary, 140f
of the Law, 21
Wicked, 244f, 256, 257. See Faith and Works
Worship, 24
Wrong, Governmental, 44, 45
YEAR OF JUBILEE (Golden Year), 157
ZWINGLI, 225
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis
2:24 99
3 : 15 239, 300
3 : 16 276
3 : 18 299
4 : 19 279
10:9 96
14:17 111
18:24ff 111
18 : 32 92
22 : 18 239
32 : 24ff 23
39:3 111
Exodus
20:5 24
20 : 21 294
22 : 28 46
33 : 20 292
Numbers
14 : 45 58
21 : 22ff 58
Deuteronomy
1 : 26, 41, 44 108
2 : 26fiE 58
6: 16 25
24 : 17 240
32 : 21 263
34 : 6 187
Joshua
7: Iff 63
Judges
7:20 67
12:6 58
20 : I8ff 109
I Samuel
2 : 30 71
12 : 15 87
14:6 HI
22 : 9 294
22:18 111
323
324 Scripture References
II Samuel
15 : 32ff 42
16:16ff 42
16:22ff 111
I Kings
9 : 10 25
17:1 92
18:21 259
22:22 204
II Kings
3:14 111
14:8ff 58
22:2ff 58
23:29 58
Job
Book 14
34:30 48
38:7 201
Psalms
2:2 103,242,299
2:2f 243
7:12E 90
33 : 17 89
44:6f 109
51 : 7 203
60 : lOff 109
68:1 56,58
76:4 96
81:11 250
82:6 201
91 : 13 300
127:1 298
147: 10 89
147:11 109
147:19 172
Proverbs
26:27 43
Eccleaiastes
5*8 66
7:16 40
9:18 111
10:1 40
laa&h
10:5 88
40:18 255
Scripture References
325
52:11
55:11
Jeremiah
18:7ff
23:5
Ezekiel
13:5
23:30f
Daniel
9:23
17:37
Hosea
4:6
Malachi
3:6
285
74, 271
89
239
92
92
17
284
263
236
OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA
Ecclesiasticus
3:26
25
12: 10, 11
200
28:14
208
I Maccabees
3:19
109
5:55ff
58
NEW
TESTAMENT
Matthew
1:1
11
5:10
286
5:11, 12
286
5: 19
141
5:20f?
116
5:39
38,83
5:44
244
5:45
88
6:16
246
7:1
46,51
7:3ff
48
7tl2
49,53
7:16
98
7:26
153
8:10
161
326 Scripture References
9:16 183
10:4 240
10:10 68
10:23 44
10:32 93
10:32f 271
11:30 299
12:8 186
12:30 242
12:34 15
13:4ff 271
13:23 288
15:14 152
15:27 172
16:18 153,210
16:19 174
17:5 250
18:15ff 274
18: 17 274
19:29 68
22:21 72
22:43' 239
23:2 240
23:4 139
26:4 242
26:8 16
26:49 41
26:52 84,117
28:20 169,179,227,270
Mark
1:23, 26 272
6:18 204
9:23 73
9:26 272
14:1 242
14:4 16
Luke
1:28 16
1:32 225
1:42 225
2:4 225
3:14 66,161
4:23 139
8:15 288
11:46 258
14:31 121
15:7 90
19:22 135
22:2 242
22:26 251
22:55 41
23:28 135
Scripture References 327
John
1:3 229
l:13f
229
1:14
225
1:29
231
3:17
84
3:29
281
4:22
172
5:27
239
6:15
84
6:27
19
8:44
96
10:34
201
14:26
242
14:30
291
16:19
242
18:36
84
19:11
114
21; 6
167
Acts
1:26
212
4:26
242
5:29
68
10: Iff
161
10:111:18
189
11:26
208
15:5
188
15:9
267
15:10
258
15 : lOf
115
15:11
243
15:28
150, 195
15:29
196
16:3
198
19 : 39, 41
264
20:28
225
21:26
199
Romans
1:16
270
1:19
236
1:28
116
3:2
172
3:8
21
3:28
10 (Vii
4:2
20
4:23
21
5:4
287
5:12
203
7:18ff
149
8:3
299
328 Scripture References
9:4
172
10:9
93
11:6
233,259
11:21
172
11:33
237
12:4
85
12:19
46,51
13:1
36, 43, 72, 11
13: Iff
35
13:2
64
13:4
38,39,56,5!
13:10
141
13:14
250
I Corinthians
2:2
242
2:8
225
3:5
281
3:12
170, 181
3 * 12ff
270
7^2
164
7:8
283
8:5
201
9:7
69
9:20
198
ll:21ff
13
12:15ff
85
13:7
68
13:13
267
14:40
85,251,295
15:24
64
15:49, 53
230
II Corinthians
3:3
267
3:6
299
4:4
291
11:14
205
Galatians
1:8
300
2:15
195
2:16
20
2*21
233
4:4
225
4:10
186
5:3
5:14
< . *ts*.
187, 193, 18
197, 244
244
EpheSians
2:3 203
2:20 192
Scripture References
329
4:6
4:11
5:32
6:12
6:17
Philippians
2:6f
4:3
Colossians
2:3
2:16
I Thessalonians
2:16
5:21
82
275
280, 285
87
116
226
283
242
186, 250
269
168
II Thessalonians
2:4
I Timothy
2: Iff
3:2
4:4
4:5
6:16
II Timothy
2:4
3:2
4:3
4:5
Titus
James
1:6
3:1
3:5
3:10
5:16
5:17
I Peter
2:9
2:13ff
3:7
5:2
5:3
5:5
98
46
276,281,285
290
285
236
251
245
248
270
276
39
272
171
92
91
271
35
276
205
251
237
330 Scripture References
II Peter
2:7f
114
2: US
249
2:18
272
Revelation
12:1
210
22:9
24
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3
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